The Isolation Proclamation
by ArmordaRay
Summary: A continuation of Energetic Conundrums! This time we're seeing Hiei's side of things after he's captured and enslaved. Can Hiei free himself and his new acquaintances, or will they all turn on each other? OCxHiei. Co-written with AleyKitty, go check her stuff out, it's awesome!
1. Chapter 1

The guards tapped along their bars with their spears as two of them dragged a dark-cloaked figure. They chatted among themselves about home, and their families as they did their job. The door's heavy lock clanked and clicked as they stuffed in the key and twisted it, unlocking it.

"B Block, you've got your last subject!" The guard on the left called. His name was Arigi, and he had four children, with a wife who Daisy still wondered about. The woman couldn't be mentally stable considering the things she heard.

Kortsu, the other guard, tossed in the black-cloaked prisoner, and Himida made the first dash for his unconscious body lying limply in their galley. He was a scruffy large man with rusty hair and electric yellow eyes which shot around the cell.

Daisy chuckled, it was always like this. As soon as someone new came in, they were on them like vultures. She stood and strode forward watching what people took. Deiru took his boot, Troku took his scarf, and Himida came away with the prize of his cloak.

Daisy grabbed it before he could try it on, and glared at the other two, who flinched and dropped their eyes. "Do you really think that's going to fit you?" she admonished them. "He's not some carcass they're leaving in here, and he's going to know who took what from him. He'll recognize it." She pointed back at him. The group slowly inched forward and she took his possessions back, stuffing his foot back in his boot, wrapped his cloak back around him, and tucked in his scarf.

"Iguri, the necklaces," Daisy demanded as she supported his head in her lap, holding out her hand. The woman with her shaggy long purple hair sighed and passed them back more reluctantly than the rest. Daisy was reluctant to put them on too when she felt the soft sway of energy off the necklaces. It was peaceful. She smiled. This would be good company. She put the necklaces back on and tucked them under his shirt.

Daisy started checking his arms and legs for broken bones. He didn't feel like he had any, so she checked his ribs and spine.

"Is he strong?"

"Feels like it. He has good muscles." She scooped him up and brought him over to the pile of old dirty ripped fabric she'd accumulated over the years from worn out clothes. She lay him down and pulled out some to make a wash cloth. She grabbed a bowl and went to the back through a narrowed part of the wall, into a large area with water. She dipped her bowl into the chilly water and came out to see several people lingering around her bed, staring at him.

"He looks kind of familiar but I can't place it." One of the newer people offered. Curutsu had just come two months prior, and it had taken her nearly three weeks to recover from the ailment they all came in with. She still had enough muscles on her stomach to hide her ribs, and her spiky yellow hair wasn't dulled or matted yet.

Daisy slipped by them and sat heavily on her bedding, wetting the cloth. She wiped off his cheeks and neck, checking under the bandanna briefly before replacing it.

This man had a Jagan.

He stirred and grabbed at the cloth weakly, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath as he did so.

"Go get me some water," she grabbed a plastic cup and pushed it at the nearest person who ran off. Iguru came back with it quickly and Daisy held it to the man's lips, wetting them just enough to give him a chance to seek out the water, not enough to get it caught in his throat if he wasn't awake enough to drink. She waited to see what he would do.

He touched the cup with his fingertips and took a deep breath before trying a sip and grunting with a soft whine, muttering again.

"Thank you Iguru," Daisy told the purple haired woman, giving her a smile. "I think he's going to sleep again."

He made another grumble and took another sip, longer this time and swallowed loudly, coughing lightly. He sighed and opened his eyes, grimacing and closing them again, groaning.

Daisy shaded his eyes from the bright light embedded in the ceiling of their block, setting the cup aside. "Hello, can you hear me?" she asked him.

He nodded weakly.

"You've been taken prisoner by Vrishnu. He has infected you with a parasite that will eat away at your spirit energy so you can't fight back, but you'll stay alive and be put to menial labor with us. We're your Block."

He huffed and opened his eyes, wincing, expecting the bright light, but relaxed when he realized his eyes were shaded and sighed heavily.

"We're going to work again in six hours. No one is expected to work unless they choose to, but if you stay behind, you won't get food."

He grunted and shifted to look at her better.

She flushed when she saw his red eyes. They were mystifying. She smiled warmly for him, knowing her once-dimpled cheeks and bright eyes might comfort him.

He sighed and dropped his eyes and grabbed at his chest, trying to push himself up onto an elbow. She helped him sit up. When he got up, he held onto her and shook his head after a few minutes, leaning back down, sighing when he was settled.

She wiped off the sweat that had accumulated on his neck and face again, including above the bandanna as best she could, careful of the Jagan. "What's your name? I'm Daisy."

He grunted at her and shifted an arm around, tugging at his sleeve. His arm was bandaged under it.

She supported him in her lap, holding him up so he didn't have to use his arms, and he had the range of movement he needed to do what he wanted to do.

He pulled at the bandages and managed to rip a few, and held up his arm for her to see.

"Are you hurt?" She asked, taking his arm to pull off the bandages.

He shook his head and touched his chest, then his arm.

She saw the nose of the dragon poking out from under the bandages and paused in her unwrapping. "Oh," she frowned. A few people had come in saying things about someone taming The Dragon, but she couldn't imagine how someone who could do that would end up caught. She rebandaged it. "It's fine," she told him comfortingly, and rubbed his chest.

He sighed in delight and leaned against her heavier, closing his eyes.

Daisy saw the others watching her with him, and gave Deiru a wink when she caught him watching her enviously. Deiru always loved the muscular men. He was a sucker for them.

"Is he going to get out of it quick you think?"

"Probably. You didn't wake up for a few days," Daisy teased Curutsu.

"Whatever."

"It's alright, most of us didn't wake up the first day."

"I did!" Boru grouched. He was poking at the fire in the middle of their sleeping piles.

"What kind of demon do you think he is?" Curutsu asked.

"I'm not sure. We'll have to ask." She wasn't going to tell them about the Jagan. It would just get hopes up and there was no reason to get hopes up. When B Block was formed as it was now, Himida started a nasty rumor that Jagans could control the guards and free them, but Daisy knew better. She still remembered Tobori, who had tried to use a Jagan to free them all, and died for her efforts. They'd noticed immediately and killed her. She couldn't control it well enough without her energy. Daisy sighed staring at Himida. She didn't want to bash their gossip when he'd started the rumor, but now she wished she had. They might make this man do something that would get him killed.

"What should we call him until he wakes up completely?"

"Same thing we call everyone, Nanashi." Deiru grumbled poking at the dirt with a stick.

The man's head lolled against her and his breathing evened out.

She settled him back down and continued to wipe at his face, adding the rest of the cup into the dirty water.

Curutsu sighed and shook her head, "Hopefully he'll wake up again."

Daisy smiled at the new girl, "He will. It doesn't matter how long it takes to get over the parasite's initial attack, it always passes. He will live, and he will wake up again." Daisy could still remember when she worried about that too, but after being in these prisons for so long, she knew better.

She nodded, "Okay."

Daisy stayed out of the conversation about all the things this new demon had on him as they waited for work to start. She focused on keeping him clean and comfortable rather than talking with the others. The six hours passed quicker than she liked.

Arigi dragged his electric spear against the bars, until he shoved the big key into the lock and twisted it. "Come on Dogs. Time for work!" he called loudly in a gruff, angry voice. Daisy reluctantly pulled herself from the new man's side, and followed the group out, walking behind Curutsu who was at the back. Arigi kept pace with her after locking the cage back up leaving Nanashi all alone.

Daisy took the last shovel in hand, and followed the others filling the wheelbarrow with the loose dirt at the bottom of their tunnel. The work was mindless, dirty, and tiring. They were the clean up crew after the demolitionists finished their tasks. She tossed her shovel-fulls into the bin with skilled aim.

Boru came to stand closer to her, "So, you really think he'll live or are you being sentimental? He isn't as strong as I was when I first came in."

"Everyone lives, Boru," Daisy smiled softly up at him. "What use would capturing and infecting anyone be if there was a chance they would die?"

"Maybe he's too weak." Boru offered, "Are you going to make him your bed mate or are you going to actually pick someone strong like myself?"

"I'm sorry Boru," she laughed gently, trying not to irritate him. "I don't take bed-mates." This man really needed to get castrated.

"You'd stay warm and comfortable with me there you know," He eyed her chest.

"I know," she agreed pleasantly, continuing to work. It was the only way to dismiss him, just agree and move on. He was constantly making advances on her. At first she thought it was cute, but the longer he didn't take 'no' for an answer, the more frustrated she got. She kept it to herself, stitching her smile tight into her face so she couldn't insult him on accident.

"When are you actually going to accept me Daisy? You know I can make your life a lot brighter."

"I'm sorry Boru, my life is bright enough." She told him, stuffing her shovel into the next bit as she waited for Deiru to dump the wheelbarrow and bring it back. She felt sweat trickling down her face, and brushed it off her head, pulling her braid off her back, over her shoulder. She focused on Boru instead.

"I don't think so." He huffed, "I think I can make it better. Why don't you try it for a night?"

"I don't think so," Daisy mimicked with a neutrally disapproving tone.

"Oh come on Daisy," he grabbed her arm and tugged her closer.

Daisy glared up at him. "No." She told him firmly. She did not like being handled.

"Come on."

Daisy slapped him hard across the face and grabbed her shovel ready to smash it into his hip if he advanced.

He backed off, but didn't leave her side. Instead, he kept shoveling next to her when Deiru returned. Daisy stayed on edge, but refused him conversation even when he tried to start it again. After an hour of working in silence, he gave up and moved off, going back to Deiru, who was more than happy to flirt with the large muscular blonde.

Daisy rolled her shoulders as she came through the gate behind everyone else, and wiped at her sweaty forehead with the arm of her shirt as Arigi locked the gate behind them. She yawned and stretched her back, twisting side to side until she noticed Troku staring at her bed. She paused to take in the sight there. Nanashi was sitting up.

He was glaring at everyone who was staring at him and eventually settled it on Daisy, but it faltered for a moment as he stared at her and glanced away.

Daisy came forward adding a little pop to her step and crouched before him with her elbows on her knees holding up her head. "Well aren't you something," she did her best to sound enthusiastic. He needed something to smile about, or at least to keep his mind occupied. If she could be a mystery for him, she'd take that task in stride.

"Maybe." He agreed.

"You're already up!" She congratulated, standing. Her legs complained loudly to her, and her arms felt numb with the effort they'd just gone through, but she held a hand out to him anyway. "Come on, let's go get clean. You're surely all sweaty after coming through that fever, and I've just been playing in the dirt," she encouraged chipperly. She heard the others groaning and breaking their silence, heading for the bath behind them.

He stared at her until the last one was gone, then pushed himself up, just grabbing her hand to stabilize himself once he was on his feet, "Is it a record then?"

"I think so," she nodded, "I think Boru got up after a night and the others took longer."

He grunted and held her hand tighter as he took a step.

"I'll tell you this, it's a record in B Block." She encouraged him to take another holding out her other hand in case he needed it. "Take it slow, you really shouldn't be up and about for another day to a month."

"I'll take it however fast I want, Woman." He snipped and took a few more steps.

It didn't take them long to cross to the back and into the cool bathing pond where everyone was drenched from head to foot. The pond of usually clean water was now murky with muck from their day of work. Daisy stepped in, relishing the chill on her ankles as she waited for Nanashi to find the first step.

He sat down on the edge and removed his boots and socks, setting them aside. He stared at them for a minute, "If any of you fools steals my stuff I'll gut you, am I understood?" He demanded loudly.

Everyone just shied away from him aside from Boru who glared back. Daisy sighed and rolled her eyes. "We had every opportunity to take your things earlier when you were unconscious Nanashi."

"Hn, Hiei." He removed his cloak and set it on top of his boots.

"When we get out, we tend to strip down and dry our things on the light line over our fire."

"I'll have something to wear this way." He stepped into the water.

"This pond is part of an underwater flow, so it stays pretty clean once the sediment settles."

"Hn." He grunted.

"We made stairs going down into it so we don't have to put so much effort into hoisting ourselves out," she stepped down another couple stairs showing him the edges.

"It's cold."

"Yeah, we don't have a way to warm it. It feels nice on aching muscles though."

He shifted on his feet, "I can imagine, but I'm weak, I can't dry myself off like I normally do."

"We all are weak. You were sick with a parasite that steals your demonic energy."

"Where's the damn parasite located?" He demanded.

"In your blood. It's not a parasite demon, it's just, a parasite, like worms in animals."

"Damnit. Can you bleed it out?"

She shook her head. She remembered someone trying that once. They'd bled themselves nearly dry before Zuki stopped the bleeding.

"How much energy does it allow you to flux?"

"About twenty joules."

"That's barely enough to make a small fire." He sighed and stepped down.

"I wouldn't suggest doing anything with it, we need that energy to recover."

"You do," He snapped viciously at her, "But I'd rather get beat by those damn guards and have time to figure out how to blow this damn place up-"

There was a soft clattering starting some ways off. People began crawling out of the wash pond. Daisy hurried up too. "That's the dinner bell. They'll be here in a few minutes to pass out food for our work."

"Have fun." Hiei waved her off and started washing himself off.

Daisy crawled out of the pool and followed after Iguri, waiting at the gate for food to be passed through the opening. One by one, they each got a plate of food. Daisy took her's back to Hiei in the pond. "Come on, I brought you dinner."

"I didn't deserve dinner, did I?" He admonished.

She laughed and smiled, sitting down with her feet in the pool, kicking them gently. "You've been sick. We always help each other when we're unable to help ourselves. That's what makes B Block the Best Block!"

"What a weak system, no wonder none of you have broken out yet." He scolded as he came over, "But for now I'll have to accept this foolishness since 'I can't help myself'," he made air quotes and sat down beside her.

"Well we're much better than A Block or C Block. Sometimes we hear them fighting, or when the guards are gone with one of the others, we'll talk." Daisy stripped off her shirt and wrung it out into the pool while Hiei ate her dinner. She wanted to impress him. She hoped that if she told everyone what she wanted them to do when they first showed up in the block, then maybe it would catch on, but so far, no one else bothered to help the new people. They just left it to her, left her to starve for the days it took for them to get on their feet. She didn't mind so much. She went hungry, but she wanted them to regain their strength quicker, and they always did if they ate.

He ate half of it and pushed it back over to her, stripping off his shirt, "Eat."

She didn't second-guess him. She took the plate and finished it, pulling her feet out of the water. She was thankful for the concession on his part. It was rare. He was going to be a good friend to have.

When he was undressed he slipped on his cloak and sighed, "Do you mind if I share a bed with you?"

"I-" she smiled, "No."

"I don't want sex." He shook his head.

"I don't usually take bed-mates because it gets tricky sometimes, but usually I also don't get my bed back until at least half a month has passed of someone being sick in it."

"Tch, no. We share."

"Thank you." She stood with her empty plate and grabbed her wet clothes. When they entered back into the sleeping area through the rough archway opening, Daisy showed him how to hang his clothes over the fire to get them to dry, and passed out a few clothes that had already dried, moving them down for everyone as she did, tossing clothes at their naked people in their beds.

"After you're here for a while your clothes will wear out and you can keep those for bedding. The guards will give you new clothes."

"Mm."

Daisy went over to her pile after tossing the last of her clothes over, and shoving the plate into the hallway for the guards to collect. She settled down, yawning and watched Hiei.

Hiei settled down beside her and sighed, "I can begin work tomorrow."

"We're digging out tunnels. A Block crushes through the earth, and we clear it away, then C Block is back to crushing. The whole process goes around the clock."

"Mm."

"What type of demon are you Hiei?"

"Fire demon."

"Oh, so what's the most interesting thing you've lit aflame?"

"Myself?" He chuckled.

She laughed too, "How did that happen?"

"Flames," he shrugged, "Good defense."

"Oh that's not much of a story," she complained. She saw the others were curious too.

He chuckled and shook his head, "I've had people light me on fire too."

"Alright clearly I have to teach you how to tell stories." Daisy scolded playfully.

He chuckled and shook his head, leaning back, "I was in a tournament and someone threw a bunch of flames at me hoping I'd burn. I didn't burn and my dragon turned them into nothing more than a mark on the wall."

"The dragon on your arm?"

"Yes."

"Wow. You must be pretty strong then."

"Are you Hiei Jaganshi, Master of the Dragon of Darkness Flames then?" Curustu inquired.

He nodded.

"Jaganshi? You have a Jagan?" Himida picked up sharply.

"I do."

"Himida, he can't use it. He doesn't have the energy." Daisy cautioned.

"I can't." He agreed.

"But doesn't the Jagan have it's own energy?"

"It does but it can take over."

"If he tried to use the Jagan, they would catch him and they wouldn't be happy."

"Exactly." He wrapped an arm around her and tugged her close.

Daisy stared at him skeptically, but allowed the behavior for now. He rested his head against her and settled down.

"How come he gets to be your bed-mate?" Boru demanded.

"He's not my bed-mate, he's just, sleeping in my bed since he doesn't have one and he's new."

He huffed loudly.

"When you were new you stayed in my bed too Boru," Daisy scolded.

"He's strong though!"

"He's also brand new!" Daisy growled back, standing. She checked on the clothes and passed them out again. She sat back down with their cloths over the fire now.

"Shut that damn hole in your face before I make it bigger." Hiei threatened Boru.

"You, Newb!" Boru growled back, standing to his full height.

Hiei watched him skeptically, "Let's not fight, you're not worth it."

"You're just scared without your precious dragon, you can't do shit."

"I can rip you apart, but the guards wouldn't like that."

"Yeah right. I doubt you could lay a hand on me!"

"Stop thinking so high and mighty of yourself. It's quite apparent you're acting like that to make up for other departments."

Daisy stood up and crossed over to Troku sitting down beside him. "How are you feeling?" she asked softly, bumping his shoulder. Boru and Hiei both stared at her confused and bewildered.

"Alright."

"Does your ankle still hurt at all?"

"Just a little."

"Let me help," she took his leg in hand and massaged his ankle, stretching it and kneading out the pain.

"Thank you."

"Just relax. I'll take care of you," Daisy cooed for him.

"You should take care of the newb."

"Hiei is clearly feeling fine. He's willing to argue with Boru after all. Those two would make good bed-mates. they're both hot-heads."

"I'm cold." Hiei huffed.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you opened your trap," Deiru scolded.

Hiei snapped his head to glare at the man, "She'll come back, or at least I hope she does. I'd appreciate it. You," he pointed at Boru, "You cost me a warm partner in bed, shut it."

"She's not your bed-mate, she said so herself."

"She's a partner to me, it's not the same as a bed mate."

"Yeah, it is. A bed-mate is someone you snuggle with at night for warmth and occasionally fuck."

"I don't fuck people."

"You have a lot to learn," Boru huffed at him.

Hiei mimicked him, but let himself growl with it.

Daisy stayed out of their argument, and got up after seeing Troku to sleep, crossing to Curutsu. "Can I give you a massage too? Your muscles must be killing you."

"If you want." Curutsu shrugged.

Daisy smiled and sat down on the side of her small pile of clothes. She'd ripped some on purpose to get replacements. Daisy had taught her that trick after she complained of the ground aching. She watched the young girl lay down, and felt dread crawl into her stomach as she kneaded at her back, shoulders and neck. It was young women like this that tended to end up re-populating this place.

Eventually Hiei stopped bickering at Boru and ignored him totally, watching her with an intense stare as he settled in.

Daisy put everyone to sleep one by one, aside from Boru, and retrieved their clothes from the fire before returning to him. "It's time for bed Hiei." She held out his clothes, having dressed herself.

He took them and dressed, "Where are you sore?"

"I'm not very," Daisy offered, laying down in her pile of clothes, stuffing her arm under some of them to make a rough pillow to support her head.

He shifted to lay down and offered his arm as a pillow.

"I'm fine," she whispered back to him.

"It's here if you want it." He offered.

"Thank you, but I'm alright." She continued to smile for him, waiting for him to drift.

He closed his eyes, but didn't relax like he was going to sleep, just lay, tense, ready to bolt.

Daisy looked up to see Boru staring at her over Hiei's shoulder. She really didn't want to take a bed-mate, but the way he was looking at her made her nervous. It wasn't just a stare because she was pretty, it was a leer. He was imagining all the different things he'd do, she was sure, and she didn't like any of them. She closed her eyes, but kept herself just as alert as Hiei, ready to wake if anyone came close.

A soft clank woke Daisy up and when she shifted to look and see what was going on, Hiei was settled in front of the bars testing them and the ground near them. He shifted to look over when he heard her shifting and ignored her in favor of testing the door, grabbing the bars of it and tugging on it with all his weight. It wouldn't budge.

She'd seen everyone do this. It was a process of trial and error until they realized that they were really stuck. That was when the depression started. Judging from his spot in the room, he was either almost done, or just beginning. She shut her eyes and listened to the futile struggle.

It was a few hours of him scuffing around and trying the bars and smacking them until she heard him make his way away from them and settle down in a spot of his own.

She was glad that he was getting independent enough to choose a place to sleep, but she wasn't sure about Boru. He might try to make advances at her again now that her bed wasn't occupied. She didn't enjoy that thought. She woke herself up and looked around, yawning softly.

Hiei was tucked up in a corner of the room with his cloak as a blanket, fast asleep.

Daisy sighed and kicked her feet under the warm spot of her bed, burrowing down a bit to fight off the chill of the air Hiei's absence left her with. She watched the others sleep, her mind drifting away to a time when these faces, these names, were just figments in her mind, a brief awareness, quickly dismissed. She wanted to cry, to miss that time, to accept all of this and leave, but she couldn't do that. She wouldn't do that. This was her life now. This was her reality too, and she had to live with that choice. She could bring these people comfort with her presence, she could give them her good will, and she would do that for as long as she could. They deserved that much from her.

Daisy woke again when she heard A Block coming back from work, their loud talking rousing B Block from slumber. C Block was too deaf to hear them. She waved Hiei over when Arigi came to the gate, and they all lined up. She put Hiei in line between herself and Curutsu.

Hiei, however, had different plans and stepped a couple of feet ahead of her, closer to the head of the line, hands folded behind his back, tapping his foot.

Arigi opened the gate and waited for them to file out. Himida was out first, starting down the hall towards their work. Troku followed him, yawning as he did.

Most of everyone was out when Hiei stepped through the gate and ran towards Arigi and started throwing punches and kicks.

The big furry guard fought him off, and knocked him aside with the electric staff, zapping him with several volts of energy as he did. Hiei's screams in pain attracted the attention of the other guards, especially seeing over half the block already out of the cell. The guards lingered around him like a hawk, and glared at the others as they waited in shock, startled out of their sheep-response to head right for the tools. Hiei continued to try to fight them off until he collapsed and covered his head with his hands.

By that time, the guards were attacking him without the electric spears, preferring to get their hands bloody by punching and kicking him. Daisy winced when she saw a blow land hard on his side, and the leg draw back to kick again. She jumped on Hiei, taking the blow in her side instead, curling around him. "Stop! Stop it!" she coughed hard and someone stomped on her leg. She screamed for a moment, but grit her teeth.

"Get off 'em!" One of them shouted. "Feral dogs need to get killed wench!" the guard shouted, trying to pry her free. She fought away from them and covered Hiei again.

"No! No! He's just new! He doesn't know better. Please, please don't do this!" tears fell from her eyes as she held Hiei to her chest. Her leg hurt bad. It felt like they had bruised her bones with the kick. She grit her breath back and focused. "Please, please, don't do this. Vrishnu won't like a dead worker!" she shouted finally.

The guards jumped back at the name, and Daisy leaned back enough to look at them. "Vrishnu wants us working, not injured."

Hiei shifted in her grasp, "Are you injured?"

"Come on, we, we can't do this here, not right now." she stood up, testing her leg. It worked. She dragged him to his feet, and headed for their fellows in their block.

When they managed to get over to the block Hiei let go of her and waved her off, "Go work."

"You're not coming?" Daisy demanded seriously.

"I need to tend to my wounds."

"We can do that at the end. There's a first aid kit. Come on. You need to eat." She wrapped an arm around his waist and invited Deiru over to help him from the other side.

"So do you." He reminded her, leaning against her.

Deiru helped support what she couldn't, and the more she walked, the better she felt. Her leg was going to be fine. She just needed to stretch it out. When they got down the hall, Daisy had Hiei lean against the wall and pulled out the first aid kit under the guard's watchful eye. She tended to his cuts and bruises, then wrapped his ribs for support, until finally feeling satisfied with his condition. She started shoveling the dirt afterwards, leaving him to do as he chose.

It was awhile before Boru came over to her, "Why'd you do that?"

"We're B Block. We help one another," Daisy told him softly. Her side ached.

"He's trouble, you should've left him."

"No. I won't just leave the guards to kill someone of my block."

"He's just getting you hurt. He's a danger to the block with this sort of behavior, what if he turns on one of us?"

"He won't, and do you know why?" Daisy challenged. "Because we will show him trust, and never turn on him."

"He's still a danger Daisy," he grabbed her arm, "He's easy to get a temper."

"So were you," Daisy challenged back, glaring at him as he held her arm. She couldn't pull free today. Her side hurt too much and he knew it. She wasn't at the right angle to knee him in the crotch either.

"But I've calmed down, he doesn't seem like he will," Boru leaned closer to her face.

"It's been two days." Daisy dropped her shovel and pushed her hand against his collarbone to push him away.

He fought with her, shoving her hand aside and leaned close, smashing their lips together. Daisy stomped hard on his foot, aiming for a toe she knew he broke. He yelped and backed off quickly. She followed after him, punching him square in the jaw, nearly getting a throat punch as he reeled back, but she was able to stretch into it. She retreated back to her spot and picked up her shovel, glaring at him.

Boru left her alone for the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

A loud clack knocked against the crossbar of their bars and woke everyone with a start. They hadn't heard much from the guards in a while, so hearing them now was a surprise. "Hey weasels! I'm here to inform you that F Block has a pregnancy."

Many of the older people of the group groaned audibly.

"That's right worms, that means you're going on rations. Your block will be worked into the schedule as necessary but F-block is going every third shift, so good luck. If you eat each other, we're going to have to find out who did it too, so don't even think about it. It's just a pain in the ass for everyone."

Hiei was the one who spoke up, "How do we get more food?"

"We have to wait an extra shift before we're fed, so F Block is going to be worked twice, then we'll get worked once, and so on."

"Can we get more food at all?"

"Not unless we work," she sighed. "We'll be working every three days, give or take, rather than every other day."

Hiei groaned and shook his head, "Dammit."

"Unless one of you slobs wants to get pregnant," The guard jovially remarked. "One of you get pregnant too, and we'll have nice even numbers for your days on duty. Back to normal, simple as that." The guard gave a few more raps on the cage, then left, whistling.

The silence in the block was palpable. That was when Boru got up and started heading over to her.

"No!" Daisy exclaimed, standing up, glaring at him.

"Come on Daisy!"

"No! I am not getting pregnant in this place!" She couldn't invite a baby into this world. Not this one. She would never give them some innocent baby to steal from her. She knew what they would do to a child here, and she couldn't do that to them. She wouldn't let them brainwash them.

"You won't have to work as hard, and we'll get food more often. We need food."

Daisy shook her head, "No! I won't!"

When Boru advanced towards her anyway, Hiei bolted out from his spot and shoved the man back with a push to his chest, hurrying forward to punch him in the nose.

Boru wasn't surprised by the attack, and caught his fist, pushing it aside, kicking at Hiei's side.

Hiei narrowly dodged the kick and threw a punch at his stomach.

"Why don't you and Hiei have a kid?" Troku commented as the men continued to fight.

Daisy shook her head again, "No, I won't, have a kid here. I don't want to lose them." she looked desperately between Curutsu and Iguri. "You understand, don't you?"

Hiei shoved Boru off and stepped away, panting hard, "If any of you get pregnant, I'll get you out of here when I get out of here."

"That's sweet Hiei," Daisy murmured gently, trying to be light.

"You'll get out too." He offered, "My friends won't let me rot in this hell for much longer."

"But you don't have energy for them to find," Himida remarked.

"They'll figure it out, they always do."

He sighed, "Sounds unlikely to me."

"You're serious?" Iguri asked.

"I'm dead serious. My friends are none other than Yusuke Urameshi, Youko Kurama, and that damn Kuwabara. They will get me out of here."

Iguri stalked towards him. "Well then."

He frowned and watched her, taking a step back, "What?"

"Come here hot-stuff. Let's go play." She lunged for him.

He stiffened and jumped out of the way before she could grab him.

She made a few more attempts to catch the fast demon before giving up and settling down to stare at him with the same lustful expression Boru always fixed on Daisy.

Hiei made his way over to Daisy but held up his hands and just stood beside her, waiting for someone else to lunge at him.

"I hate it when someone gets pregnant," Deiru remarked lazily. Curutsu was eyeing him despite him being snuggled tightly up to Himida for the day.

"Hn, if one of you women will willingly get pregnant we can have food."

"Oh, I'll willingly get pregnant by you, you're strong, and sexy, and exactly what I want." Iguri taunted Hiei.

He just stared at her.

"If we get pregnant then they're going to take the children when we have them and teach them that their only purpose in life is to do what they say.

"Not if you have a long gestation period. Yusuke and the others will be here."

"These friends of yours might not come in time. They might separate our block," Daisy admitted.

He grabbed her hand, "Then I'll make sure you're with me and not that damn bastard."

She flushed and blinked, staring at him in shock.

"I'm not a bastard! I just know how shit's done here!"

"Yes you are, you wouldn't stop when she said no, you've been making advances on her without her permission. I don't like you."

"I don't give a shit if you like it or not," Boru complained. "I'm just doing what we do! Why do you think someone in F Block got pregnant you twerp? They wanted the extra food!"

"If you even try to touch her again I won't hold back and I will hurt you."

Daisy groaned and went back to her bed, settling down on it, still holding Hiei's hand. Hiei followed and settled beside her.

"I'd be okay with getting pregnant if it meant I could leave," Curutsu muttered, looking at the men.

"What kind of demon are you?"

"I'm a cat demon." Her ears flicked up as if to make her point, but she didn't have a tail.

"You don't have a long gestation period."

She sighed.

"Plus, you're too young. Having a child at your age could result in more complications than you could live through," Daisy added softly.

"You're not an option." Hiei sighed.

"Well I am. I'm a fire demon and you're a sexy man." Iguri encouraged him again.

"Hn."

"Well I'd do you if I thought it would help, but I doubt we'd get along for a kid," Boru commented to Iguri. "I'm an ice demon."

"What kind of ice demon?" Hiei inquired.

"Just your standard bred. Nothing special."

"Mm." He nodded.

"If I wasn't incapable of ejaculating in a female, I'd match with you Iguri," Deiru teased.

Everyone rolled their eyes or groaned at his crassness. Deiru did not have a private bone in his body about how much he loved to fondle the men of their group, including several times when he'd relieved them in the bath away from prying eyes.

Hiei sighed and fell back on Daisy's bed, closing his eyes.

"That leaves Troku or Himida."

"I'm too old," Himida dismissed. "I just breed weaklings."

"Daisy, what kind of demon are you?"

"I'm a spirit hawk."

Hiei sat up to stare at her, "What?" He demanded.

She sighed and shrugged. He'd probably be staring at her trying to see a bird now, but it didn't work like that. She didn't have wings, she didn't have bird features. Yes, she had a longer face, but she wasn't un-round, she had dimpled cheeks usually, but the bright yellow eyes of her kind, which was really the only thing that gave her away.

"You don't look like a bird. That's good actually, makes you attractive." Hiei flopped back down.

She sighed again, looking around at the others. They were also all staring at her.

"Can't you just like, turn into a hawk and fly out of here?" Troku asked first.

"Troku." Hiei sat up, "You, you, are you a willing male?"

"Well I am a male, we fuck anything, aside from that dipshit." Deiru complained about that comment, which was definitely directed at him.

He pointed at Iguri.

"God, but he's so weak," Iguri complained angrily.

"Why am I the only damn compatible male here!" Hiei demanded loudly.

"Because you're sexy and strong!"

"How about everyone just fucks everyone?" Boru licked his lips staring at Daisy with more hunger now.

Hiei groaned and flopped onto his back, "You'd get castrated, I claim this woman if we're doing that." He touched her arm.

"Oh no, no, no. If everyone's fucking everyone, I get a swing at you too pretty boy," Deiru announced.

"Hn."

"Have you seen his ass? It's like, globes of deliciousness, ripe and ready for the harvesting," Iguri gossiped.

"Knock it off." Hiei barked.

Daisy lay against his shoulder and sighed. Yeah, she could accept him as a bed-mate. She just wasn't sure if she believed his friends would actually get there in time. Either way, she had to stop them from falling for Vrishnu's plan. "We might be weak, but we can handle only eating every three days. It'll be harder, but it won't last forever, and we will have free time to work. If we save back rations from our meals, we will be able to eat as we choose as well."

"Hn."

"Yeah," Curutsu agreed.

"If someone gets pregnant, it shouldn't be just because we want to keep our schedule. We're not that weak-willed."

"I agree actually." Himida nodded.

"I don't. You all might be perfectly content to starve yourselves, but I'm not. I need to eat! I'm hungry enough going between days." Boru complained loudly.

Hiei huffed loudly.

"Maybe if you all worked harder you would be as hungry as I am."

"Maybe if you stopped being a whiny weakling you'd realize we're all hungry." Hiei snapped.

"Please, would you cut it out," Daisy asked both of them.

"I don't like him." Hiei huffed.

"We know," Troku scolded.

"I'm going back to sleep." Hiei shifted and took off his cloak, laying it over himself and Daisy as a blanket.

Daisy settled back down for sleep too, effectively ending the conversation for that moment. They'd have it again the next time they missed a shift, she was sure of that.

Everyone was sitting awake and restless waiting for sleep again, but their stomachs growled and they were struggling to remain civil. It was only a week later, but they were already starting to feel the strain of the longer wait between eating. Daisy knew that something had to break or they were all going to be at each other's throats, and then there wouldn't be a B Block, but a B Person, who would get shuffled into another group and forced into a new regime.

Daisy stood and grabbed some of her remnants tying them together until they made a sort of shade, which she hung over the light, poking it into the crusty ceiling to hold it up. Everyone watched her with growing curiosity as she went about setting the mood. When she finished, flickers of light shined through the fabric, just glinting off of their bodies and faces, leaving them mostly in the dark. It was almost like being out in a thick forest in the middle of the night.

"Five hundred years ago," Daisy started trying to plan her story as she prefaced it. "There was a man, a demon man, who had hair like the moon, and eyes like the amber morning sun, with blazing markings of rich purple across his cheeks, donned with a crescent moon. Now this man," she told Iguri pointedly, "was very independent," she nodded to herself, circling around the fire, making the clothes flicker and wave as she moved by, "He was a lord. The Lord of the West, they called him, but no one really knew why. Now, he didn't talk much, but this is the story, of the year he fell in love."

There was a groan of complaints from the males in her audience.

"How about a better story?" Hiei offered.

"Now hold on, hold on, I know what you all must be thinking, 'Love, how ridiculous' but bear with me. Humor me. It's not like you have anywhere to go."

"Is this a real lord?" Curutsu inquired.

"He," she came around to Curutsu's bed, "Might, be real." She winked at her. "The Lord of the West had a strict idea of when and where to patrol his lands, and that was anywhere and everywhere whenever he felt like it. If anyone decided to get in his way, or slow his progress, he killed them. It was the way of things."

"Like a lot of other Lords." Hiei agreed.

"That's right, like a lot of Lords. The Lord of the West, however, had a soft spot, and one day, while he was recovering from a fierce and mighty battle, a little girl, no more than seven, came running up to him in his sleep. Now of course our lord immediately thought to kill her! She was just a little girl, nothing he could risk leaving alive. She could tell her family where he was. She could call for reinforcements, she could scream out, and soon a whole swarm of demons would be upon him, but he had a problem. His battle had left him too weak to rise up and slay even this little girl, so she evaded him. She was out of his grasp."

"Then he deserved to die," grumbled Boru.

"And so thought our lord, but as the girl stared at him, with big, chocolate eyes, and her dirty face, she did not cry out, and she did not run away, she merely stared, startled, but unafraid. She left the clearing after just a few minutes without a single word, and ran back through the woods. The Lord listened to her go, listened to her slipping farther, and farther away," she spoke softer to set the mood, like she were moving off into the distance, despite still circling about the fire. "And he waited for the crashing of the attackers," she banged her feet against the ground. "And the shouting of their angry cries," she shook the shade over the fire sending light everywhere, listening to her audience startle and settle around her. She waited for them all to be quiet and settle back in, then waited longer, letting the silence seep into the room, "But they never came."

Hiei shifted on her bed to look at her better, munching on a piece of food. Apparently she'd even enthralled him into listening.

"He waited, quiet, brooding, thinking, all that night, waiting for them to come for him, but still, no one came. The next day, he heard the bushes rattling, and the noise of walking, but it was so quiet, he couldn't tell if it was an animal, or a person, and he felt unthreatened by it, completely at ease that he could kill whatever it was that came. It came closer," she made some walking noises, sneaking up on them all as she circled the fire. "And closer," she teased them. "And closer, until," she jumped at Deiru who yelped and jerked back. "It was the little girl." she wandered, changing directions, folding her arms behind her back as she strode along. "But she wasn't alone. No, she brought someone with her, but it wasn't an attack squad, or a strong opponent, in fact, who she brought with her, wasn't even alive."

Daisy waited for Iguri and Troku to stop murmuring to one another before continuing, and eventually Himida smacked Iguri on the leg to get them to stop.

"There our lord was, sitting with a gut wound he couldn't heal, missing an arm from his great battle, and this little girl brought him a fish, food. She came right up to his side, trusting him not to snap her neck, and offered it to him with a toothy grin, like she was offering up the prize of the century to his altar."

"Now, at this close distance, The Lord of the West could finally see her clearly, and he noticed then that this silent little girl had bruises all around her face. Her eye was swollen, some of her baby teeth were chipped, and she had scratches and bumps all up her arms and legs, which showed bare beneath the too-small clothes. The Lord is not a very amiable one, nor one of any great estate, and he was not someone this girl could have recognized out of hand. No, our lord concluded that this girl brought him fish as food because she could bring him nothing else, and she was too good to leave him alone with his wounds without food."

She spun about sharply and jumped to spook them all, it worked. "That was when he heard it! He heard a crashing in the woods! His mind raced, thinking the villagers had sent her forth to see if he was still there for the slaughter, and he could hear them calling after her. 'Rin' they called , 'Rin, Rin, where have you gone now you fish thief!' and he realized," she slowed her pace, "that they were not after him. They were after this little girl. They wanted her for the fish. It was not her fish to give. She had stolen it for him."

Daisy stomped her feet around and shouted a little louder every few steps. "'Get out here! Get out here you thief! Come take your punishment!' and they drew closer, and closer, and louder each step until finally The Lord feared they were right atop them, when Rin ran off. The little girl dove into the woods and he heard the men pursue her off, away, and the crashing of their sticks, but he never heard her cry out, not a sound." Daisy let that sink in with everyone, standing still.

Curutsu looked around at the others and leaned forward, waiting. Hiei had stopped mid bite, waiting for her to continue.

"When our lord recovered two days later, he headed north from the clearing, and came upon a massacre by wolves. There was a village to the north, the village he suspected belonged to the little girl, whom he had not seen since she ran off protecting him, so when he saw the bloody men and women ravaged by the wolves, and the corpses littering the woods, he was curious."

She started walking again, folding her hands behind her back, "Now, our lord is not just any lord. Oh no, this is the fabled Lord of the West." she held up her finger. "The Lord of the West, if you don't remember," she pointed at each of them in turn scoldingly, making eye contact, "Has the power to return life to the recently deceased, or almost deceased. He can sever the bond between the grim reapers, and the dead, restoring the souls to their bodies."

Hiei shifted in his spot, "Is the little girl dead?"

Daisy paused dramatically, staring at him, "She's nearly dead. The Lord of the West found Rin on the road, two wolves running off when they felt his power searching through the trees. She was not maimed, just bleeding, but her small body had nearly bled out, and when he came upon her, his heart sang out with sorrow, and he realized for the first time in his life, why there were such things as human-lovers. You see, this girl was not a demon, she was just a human, just a child, and mute from all the anger she endured." Daisy stared down at Curutsu softly, as if she were looking down at the little dead girl. She knelt in front of her, "Rin had a grim looming around her, and as his sorrow coursed through him, he could see the grim waiting for her to die. It was the first time he'd ever seen it, but his trusty sword, given to him by his father, throbbed at his side, begging him to take it in hand. Our lord is not a foolish one, and so he drew the sword," she pulled an invisible sword from her hip, standing tall again, "And slay the grim in one swoop, sending Rin's soul back to her, to be his companion for her human lifetime." Daisy play-sheathed her sword and turned to all of them, smiling. "That is the story of The Daughter of the Lord of the West."

"Huh." Hiei shifted, "That was a good story."

Some of the others were clapping or commenting as well as a general commotion broke out after the announcement at the end. "But was he really a lord?" Curutsu asked again.

"Lord Sesshomaru. No one's really sure if he was a real demon or not. We have some stories about him, but no one knows if he was real. Some people say he was, but that he was ruler over parts of Human World, and others say he wasn't because no demons ruled over Human World, Ever."

"Hn." Hiei grunted.

"What other stories do you know about him?" Boru asked curiously.

"Just a few. There's one about him and The King of Thieves, but it seems very contrived and I don't remember it that well." She checked to see how well her makeshift story curtain had held up and felt satisfied with it. "Does anyone else want to tell a story?"

Hiei chuckled, "I have a lot of stories but I'm terrible at telling them." He sat up a bit, finishing his food off. He looked at the fire and sighed, "Any suggestions?"

"Make sure there's a climax where you change your voice and pitch to match the danger."

Hiei laughed, "Alright, anything else?"

"Oh! Oh, Make it a real one! Tell us a story that really happened," Curutsu requested.

"Alright." Hiei nodded and leaned back, thinking, "Hm. Something with Yusuke and the great Youko Kurama? Or just one of them?"

"Who's Yusuke?" Boru asked.

"He's a descendant of Raizen."

"Oh, okay."

"So?" He asked.

"I do believe it is up to you," Daisy suggested.

"Alright, let me think." Hiei looked up. He sat like that for a little while and sighed, "I'd have to do a lot of explaining for any of them to make any sense." He shook his head, "Nevermind."

"Just pick something simple," Daisy encouraged.

"How about the first time Kurama gave me hot chocolate?" He shifted.

"Sure."

"Do you all know what hot chocolate is?"

They all shook their heads.

"Alright," He shifted to sit up, "It's this warm, sweet drink. It's sweet and a little bitter, but very delicious and addicting. It's a human thing." He shifted, "Youko Kurama lives in Human World now, and I was over visiting. We'd been partners for a little while," he shrugged, "I was in his room napping when he came in with a couple of hot drinks. It was getting cold outside so he made them for the both of us. He had tea," Hiei nodded, "I remember smelling it, but I didn't know what the hot chocolate was. He handed it to me and told me I'd like it." He shifted, "I was kind of skeptical at first, I thought it was a weird brown drink, but it smelled sweet, so I tried a sip." He broke out into a grin, "It's like this coating of sweet and bitter covering your tongue and warming your mouth up. I drank the cup in seconds and demanded another one and the Fox was so shocked he nearly dropped his tea."

They laughed and Troku broke into a story about seeing snow for the first time. Before any of them really knew what was happening, they were sharing stories back and forth around the fire. Daisy took down the story cover to add it back to her pile, snuggling into the warmth it now provided and listening to everyone talk.

Eventually, people started falling asleep until just a couple of people were up talking quietly. Hiei settled down beside Daisy and sighed heavily.

"When do you think your friends will find you?" she asked quietly, rolling over to snuggle into his arms.

He held her close, "Soon. Are you hungry?"

"Not really. I think I'm going to go take a bath though." She didn't want to admit she was starving. Talking about hunger always made it worse.

"Want me to join you?"

"No, you can stay here and keep my bed warm." She teased him, getting up.

"Alright, but if I see him go in there I'm going in there too." He warned.

Daisy chuckled, "You over-react. I can fight him off. I've dealt with him for a long time now Hiei. I know how to handle myself."

"I care about you."

She smiled and crouched by the bed. "Take a nap." She couldn't admit that she was starting to relish her time with him, not now. Not with the looming need for someone to get pregnant.

He shuffled around in his pocket and offered her a handful of food, "Here."

She cupped her hand over his, and pressed it back to him. "No, you don't understand yet."

He tipped his head to the side, watching her.

"Save it for as long as you can."

"You have to be hungry."

"In a few months, it'll be the height of summer, we'll start hearing the new baby and everyone will begin to want a family, and then one by one, the blocks will all follow suit until we're only getting to work once a week or so, for just a few hours a day."

"Hn. Fine." He put his food away, "But I won't let that bastard put his hands on you."

"Hiei, please, save your strength." She chuckled.

"I'll save it for whatever I want."

"It's my right to kick his ass when he touches me, not yours." She didn't want to pull that on him, but he seemed very determined to act like her mate, and he wasn't, so she said it softly with a smile.

"I'm aware but he pisses me off."

"The man who should piss you off is Vrishnu, not Boru."

"They both do." He sighed, "I'll keep the bed warm."

"Take a nap." She suggested again, and headed for the bath rather than waiting for his response.

Despite her hunger, Daisy also felt incredibly energetic. She was used to working for long hours, without much food in between and now, without the work, she felt like she needed to waste some energy, so she started swimming back and forth in the pool, warming herself up and getting her blood pumping as she did.

It was awhile before she heard footsteps making their way to the pond. She turned, ready to scold Hiei for not resting, but instead found Boru watching her. Her heart jumped into her chest as she found the ground with her feet, staring at him.

"You want a partner?" He grinned.

"You know I don't Boru."

"Oh come on. You can't really be considering that half pint can you?"

"He's sweet and warmer than you could ever be."

He huffed and stepped into the water, "I can't help it, I'm not a fire demon. He could burn you."

"He listens to me when I tell him not to do things."

He rolled his eyes, "He's too gentle, he can't even hold up against the guards."

"Boru," she scolded. "The guards are completely charged, all the time. None of us could stand up against them. If we could, we wouldn't be in here."

"I could."

"Oh, so you just stay because you like the work?"

"I stay because I want you." He started approaching her.

She stayed put chuckling. "You're ridiculous Boru. We both know I'm not going to have children in here."

"But our children would be strong!"

"I don't care! I won't damn my offspring to living in this hell-hole! I'd sooner kill myself than give birth in this place."

"Come on Daisy." He was a few feet away now.

She splashed him in the face with water. "Go find someone else to screw. I will not bear your children."

"I can't have children with Curutsu or Iguri. We're all starving Daisy."

"No, we're not. We're just hungry, that's all. Vrishnu would never let us starve."

"Daisy, we're hungry. We could put an end to this hunger and get more food."

Daisy swam away from him towards the steps, and sat on the edge of the pool. "And then what? We will be put to labor every day in C Block's time. That means C Block and E block will be put out, and then they'll make someone pregnant too."

"We'll get stronger."

"Yeah, but in the end we'll be eating table scraps. Don't you remember?"

"Come on." He made his way over to the steps.

"No. We'll only be getting vegetables before a month is out and we can't survive just on vegetables. They'll divide the dinners between the two blocks working them once everyone starts working every day. Don't you remember?"

He huffed and rushed forward towards her.

Daisy slipped out of his way, tripping him, and stepped out of the water, kicking him back into it. She crossed her arms over her chest.

Boru was quick to right himself in the water and came up towards the steps, "Okay, fine, for now. How come you've accepted Hiei?"

"I haven't completely." Daisy wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. "I just, he's sweet. I'll kick his ass when he tries anything."

"He's sweet my ass. He's violent."

Daisy sat down on the edge of the pool, feeling a little more comfortable that Boru wouldn't try anything now. "He isn't violent towards me. He listens to me and respects my requests. Like, the third day we slept in the same bed, I asked him not to pin or grab my arms, and he hasn't. He's respected that ever since I asked once. You can't even get it through your thick head when I tell you 'no' a thousand times."

"Why would he grab your arms or pin them?"

"Like when you sleep spooned up to someone and you're the big spoon, your arm gets pinned sometimes."

"Huh."

"Oh come on Boru, you've experienced someone sleeping on your arm before."

"And, so what if he just did that? It's nice?"

"So what if he does what?"

"I don't get what's so appealing about him."

"You mean aside from him actually listening to me?"

He huffed.

"He makes me feel… I don't know. He makes me feel safe, and like a person again."

"Do you really think he's that Hiei Jaganshi, the whoever Curutsu talked about?"

"Does it matter? Personally I don't really think it does. What matters is how he makes me feel. When he stops, making me feel like a person, and stops listening to me when I tell him not to do things, then I'll kick his ass just like I do yours."

He huffed again, "You think his friends will save us?"

"No." She shook her head.

Boru sighed, "I'm not going to give up on this completely Daisy."

"I know, I just wish you would realize I don't like you like that so that you can move on. I don't like being smothered in bed. You're too big for me."

"He's tiny."

Daisy smiled. "Perfectly pocket sized," she giggled.

He rolled his eyes, "Go back to your loverboy, you're shivering, or I'll warm you up."

"We are not lovers, and we probably won't be." Daisy corrected, but got out of the water anyway, and started stripping off her clothes to hang over the fire.

"I'm always here Daisy." He got out of the water.

She hung her clothes and slipped into bed with Hiei, who was fast asleep. She snuggled up to his back, tucking her arms close to her chest to protect her naked wet boobs from pressing against him, but she tucked her feet between his legs trying to warm her toes up.

Hiei shifted to glance at her, "You cold?" He grabbed his cloak and pulled it over his side, "I kept it warm for you."

She sighed in delight and snuggled closer to him. "Thank you Hiei."


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next month, Daisy's prediction came true. Soon all of the other blocks were pregnant, aside from theirs. The guards now brought them out as an afterthought once each week, and the men were looking hungrily at the women as each day they got weaker, and could be less effective on their jobs. When they did get out for a day, it was for a four hour shift, which only gave them half their typical rations, usually just some vegetables.

Daisy did her best to keep up morale with stories of faraway places, but even she was wearing down, finding it harder to smile and wake up. They would hibernate for three out of the seven days straight oftentimes, and when they weren't asleep, it was hard to find distractions.

"We could at least get vegetables every day!" Boru snapped angrily, pacing back and forth, nearly putting out the fire with his walk.

"It's only four or five months. Would you rather be worked to the bone and hungry, or just hungry? If we wait them out, we won't make a new block by six children being born at once." Even her argument sounded tiresome to her own ears. She tried to put more energy into her glare.

Hiei sighed, "Basically, we're feeding the beast if we go along with what they want. We're hungry, but we're not slaving away working non stop."

"What if we starve to death first?" Curutsu started crying softly.

"We're demons, we don't starve that easy. The great Lord Raizen lasted, centuries, starving himself." Hiei scolded.

"I'm not as strong as Raizen!" she shouted fearfully.

"Calm down!" Hiei yelled at her.

"Hiei, please, screaming won't solve anything." Daisy pulled herself up. Her bones ached at the motion, but still she crossed to Curutsu and pulled the girl into a hug stroking her hair.

"We'll be alright Curutsu. It won't stay like this forever."

"But what if they forget about us? What if we just waste away in here?"

"They won't forget about us, and if they do, I'll find a way to get us out of here." Hiei offered in a softer tone, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Iguri," Deiru said softly. "Let's go see if we can make a baby."

"No, you're giving in." Hiei snapped.

"We can't fight them Hiei," Deiru whined, holding his stomach.

"Yes you can you weak bastard!" He shouted.

"Don't you see Troku? He hasn't woken up all week! He barely woke up last week as it was."

"Then he can have my food!" Hiei waved them off.

"No, we'll all save back a ration for Troku. He can take next week off of work and when we get dinner, eat off our plates. We can't afford all of us falling one by one by sacrificing our places."

"Don't give into their demands." Hiei huffed.

Iguri glanced between Hiei and Deiru. "You couldn't get it up anyway old man."

Deiru glared at her.

"He might not be able to get it up, but I can." Himida announced, staring at her.

"Maybe none of us want to starve like you two idiots," Boru growled. "All in favor of getting one of them pregnant?" He held up his hand.

"You're not in charge here Boru." Hiei snapped, "Stay out of this."

"Neither are you!"

Hiei huffed at him, "You can split my rations up. I don't need it as much as all of you weaklings do."

Daisy watched in fear as Himida and Deiru poked their hands up. One more and they'd be at half the room. Troku wasn't awake to join them, but Daisy could feel Iguri and Curutsu's temptations.

"No." Hiei snapped at them both, "Idiots. This won't solve our problem. You'll be worked until you can barely move!"

"They will only work us four hours a day!" Boru argued.

"Shut up!" Hiei shouted at him.

"Four hours a day for food, Hiei. Food!"

"You can eat my food!"

"You don't have enough food to last us a daily ration." Boru argued.

"No, but you'd get more!"

"I want food every day Hiei, every day!" He snapped back again.

"Then take my damn ration and save it up for every day! Maybe you could get creative and try to swim around in that pond and find a way out too while you eat my food!"

"That's seven weeks versus one. Iguri, how do you vote?" Boru demanded.

"No." Hiei snapped, "Don't you dare raise your hand."

"I'm sorry Hiei, I don't like the idea of having a kid in here, but I like the idea of only eating a swallow of vegetables once a week even less." she raised her hand. That was half. They all stared at Curtusu.

Hiei snarled at her, "You're all fools! This is the reason why the blocks live! If you stop this you can kill this place slowly!"

"Nothing kills this place. We'll die before we get out of here." Curutsu argued back. "There is no escape."

"Not on my damn watch. I'll swim around in that damn pool myself if he won't."

"Hiei, there are bars in the way, we did that years ago." Daisy countered.

"What are these bars made out of?" Hiei jabbed his thumb at them.

She tapped the coated iron, making it ring out. "Same as these."

"If it's metal it'll melt."

"Even you don't have enough energy to melt them."

"No, but we have a fire." He pointed at it.

"We tried that, the guards extinguish it, and also they just heat up, they don't melt with the heat we can get this fire."

"Have you tried tunnelling around the bars in the pond?"

"The pond is lined with concrete, artificial. We can't penetrate it with our hands."

Hiei gripped at his hair, "Fuck." He stomped his foot against the ground and sighed.

"Unless someone out there finds us, and cares to free us, we're stuck without our energy."

"Yusuke and the others will come. Are these parasites weak to high temperatures?"

"Not that we've noticed." Daisy sighed.

"And back to the matter at hand!" Boru snapped.

"No!" Hiei barked, "Stop, I want to test something." He went over to the fire.

"God damn it Hiei! We can't escape! We have to worry about here and now."

"You've just accepted this you damn weakling! I don't! I refuse to accept this!" He pulled off his cloak and threw it aside.

"Hiei, what are you doing?" Daisy asked, getting up, leaving Curutsu.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to step into this fire."

"What! No!" Daisy grabbed his arm and dragged him away from it very forcefully. "No! You can't! You're not fire-proof you idiot, you're as weak as all of us!"

"Let go of me!" He pushed her away, "I want to see if this heat will burn the damn parasites out of my system!"

"I will not let you injure yourself like that!" Daisy struggled him back again, forcing him up against one of the walls.

"Daisy!" He shouted, "I can't accept this! Let me go!" He pushed against her.

She fought him back again, and Iguri joined her in restraining him. "No! We can't let you!"

"What do you care? I'm one of the few people against your mad ideas!" He barked.

"I can't watch you die any more than she can!" Iguri shouted back at him.

"Why do you care!"

"Because I'm going to have to live with the memories you selfish goddamn prick!"

Hiei faltered against them. He fell silent.

"If you really want to see if you're fire-proof still, then touch one of the logs with a finger, don't step into the fire," Daisy whined, leaning her head against his chest.

Hiei sighed heavily and rested his head against hers.

"Curutsu, what do you want? Do you want to try someone getting pregnant, or do you want to wait this out for another five months?"

Curutsu sighed and dropped her head. "Do you really think your friends will get here soon, Hiei?"

"Yes." He nodded, "Yes."

Daisy watched the young girl debate for a little while longer before raising her hand. "I think, if his friends are coming for him, then there's nothing to fear about getting pregnant. The children won't be born here."

"No," Hiei whined, "No. No. Don't think like that."

Before anyone else could comment, Daisy noticed a huge figure rushing towards her. She screamed in fear and backed away, but she wasn't quick enough and there weren't enough places to move. Boru came crashing down on them, grabbing at Daisy's arms in a frenzy while Iguri held onto Hiei and smashed her lips to his moaning in delight.

She could hear Hiei struggling against Iguri, landing a few hits on the woman, making her yelp. With Boru atop her, his face mashed against hers, she couldn't see anything, or struggle. She couldn't even get her legs up to defend herself as he lay between her's effectively squashing her. She felt light headed from the air being knocked from her lungs, and on top of that, dizzy from her head hitting the hard ground.

There was a louder yelp and a smack before something grabbed onto Boru and started clawing and pulling at him.

"Get off of her!"

Boru fell to the side and Daisy gasped for air rolling away, crawling over to the wall. The commotion that followed held very little of her attention as she breathed hard trying to catch her breath. Her ribs hurt like one of them was trying not to snap, and she knew her feeble bones were working against her. She opened her eyes to see Hiei holding Boru near the fire, his head against the ground, nearly shoving his face into it. Boru was screaming and struggling, and some of the others were trying to restrain Hiei, and stop him from finishing the deed.

They finally pulled Hiei free from his arm lock on Boru, and the man scurried away to the far side of the room while Hiei backed off and came back over to her. Daisy shut her eyes holding her side.

He crouched down beside her, panting, "Are you hurt?" His hand gently touched the hand that was holding her side, "Is anything broken?"

"No, I don't think anything's broken." she shook her head, hearing a new scuffle break out. Boru was satisfying himself with Iguri since he couldn't have her.

Hiei sighed and she heard him lay beside her, "That child probably won't work out well." He called.

"Doesn't matter!" they shouted back.

"Pathetic." Hiei hissed.

Daisy got up when she saw Himida eyeing Curutsu, and put herself between them, glaring at the man.

"Come on Daisy."

"No, I won't just sit by and let Curutsu die from pregnancy, just like I won't let you die!" she shouted angrily at him.

Himida relented, going back to tending to Troku, wiping off his face. Deiru joined him.

Daisy went to her bed and settled down. Every time she twisted wrong, her side screamed in pain, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. It wasn't broken, but something felt pulled.

It took Hiei awhile to get back to his feet, along with shouting about weaklings and fools before he came over to her bed and settled down beside it.

It was two days later when the ground shook, and ripped. Huge pieces of roof came smashing down into the hallway, and their own ceiling rumbled threateningly, dropping debris down on them. Everyone was on their feet before they knew what was going on, but some of the debris and the wind that crashed through their sterile air blew out their fire, sending them into darkness. Daisy ran for the bath-house, knowing the concrete reinforced it, grabbing Curutsu on the way in one hand, and Troku's limp arm in the other, with Himida holding his other side.

When they hit the water, Daisy made a head count in the dark, but when she couldn't see enough, she just shouted. "This way! Come this way! Hey! Over here!" Some of the others followed the noise she made as Curutsu helped her taking up the call.

Daisy saw the archway blocked by Boru's imposing figure at last, and stopped that call, instead, calling for help, but the ruckus outside grew louder, and they stood in silence as they heard the ceiling cave in. Debris crashed in and the air stilled as they were enclosed in the bath.

"Daisy," Curutsu murmured.

"Y-yeah?"

"Are we going to make it out of this?"

"I don't know."

"You think these are Hiei's friends?"

"I don't know," she whispered, weaker. She looked around, twisting to see if she could make out anybody. "Is he here? Hiei?" she called, but there was no answer. Daisy felt the life drain through her feet into the cold pool as the silence dragged on.

Hiei was gone.

"Do you think he got hurt in the rubble?" Curutsu asked.

"I don't know."

"S-should we try to find him?"

Daisy nodded, but no one could see it. "We need land, somewhere dry. Let's see if we can get some of this rubble out of our way, try to make it to the bars so we can prove we weren't crushed."

"Alright." Himida agreed, "Come on." He started to grab rubble and toss it into the bath to clear a path to the bars. Before someone got hurt, they made a procession of it, stacking the rubble at the back of the pool, trying not to block the drains.

It was an hour into it when she heard Curutsu gasp loudly, "Daisy!"

She looked over sharply, and let out a shriek, seeing Curutsu holding Hiei's cloak. She clasped her hands over her mouth, and openly cried.

Curutsu started crying too, "It's just his cloak, I don't know where his body is."

"H-he had it on. He had his cloak on," Daisy cried back. She came over and took the garment from Curutsu cradling it to her face. She could smell blood on it.

"H-here's his scarf. It's torn." Daisy took that too, and sat down on the spot to weep, holding them close. There were blood stains on the white scarf too.

"Daisy, I don't want to find his body. It has to be nearby." Curutsu cried.

Boru came over and relieved the girls of the duty of searching by dragging them away to aim right for the bars rather than sidetracking. The work did Daisy good to set her mind against sobbing, but when it finished, she could just sit and weep quietly to herself.

"Hiei, Hiei wake up!" He felt someone's hand on his shoulder, but the voice wasn't familiar. It was like a dream. There were birds. It was so noisy he couldn't imagine how he ever slept. Crickets, birds, rustling leaves, and people. More familiar voices were chatting back and forth. He knew it was a dream.

When he managed to pry his eyes open he expected the firelight with Daisy tucked close, but he wasn't met by that. He sat up quickly, "Daisy?" He yelped.

"Hey, hey, take it easy," Kurama took his shoulders and eased him back down. "You took a heavy blow to the head. I found you unconscious."

"Where's Daisy?"

"I don't know. I only found you and guards."

His chest tightened, "No, no I have to find her!" He pushed at Kurama's arms, but he was still weakened by the parasite.

"Hey, hey, we have to get you better first. Yusuke is doing his best to devastate the ranks of Vrishnu's men but we can't win this fight today."

"I have to help her Fox." Hiei continued his struggle.

"Hey, Hiei, calm down, please, you have something restraining your energy, you can't go rushing into battle."

"The parasites!" He stilled, "The parasites. Fox, they put, parasites in my blood."

"In your blood?" Kurama asked cautiously.

He nodded, "I remember asking Daisy where it was and she said it was in my blood."

"We have to get you home."

"Fox, let me get her."

"The tunnels are in rubble. There's no way we could get back down to that level again right now."

"No! No!" Hiei yelled at him, "I know it down there!"

Kurama sighed. "Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll take you on my back and you can direct me." Kurama offered.

"Deal."

The fox helped Hiei onto his back and stood, heading through the woods. They descended into a mine shaft a little ways away from where Yusuke and Kuwabara were battling demons loudly. at the base of a cliff, but while they were still on the stairs, they came upon rubble that caved in from the walls, blocking their descent.

Hiei whined, "No. Dammit, we can dig it. Get me a shovel Fox."

Kurama drew his rose whip and began to do his best to slash and destroy the rubble, but it just crumbled and gave them a few more feet before collecting on more which the fox would have to crush. After nearly half an hour of clearing the stairs, they heard the fighting start to die down. "Hiei, if we stay, they're going to come down these stairs and trap us," he warned.

"Fine." He pressed his head against Kurama's shoulder, "But I have to come back and save them. I told them I would. I have to get Daisy out of there, away from Boru."

Kurama darted back up the stairs and slipped out just as some of the guards were rounding into view of the exit. He sped up his pace, and they barely noticed, too preoccupied with their wounded. Hiei fell asleep against his shoulder.

Hiei woke up smelling hot chocolate and pancakes. He groaned in delight at the smell of real food and roused himself only to fall onto the floor from the bed. He groaned in pain now and pushed himself up, grabbing the edge of the bed.

"Are you alright?" It was Asagi, Kurama's mate. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up before he could protest.

"No, did the damn Fox get these damn parasites out of me?"

"No, he's still working on figuring out what kills them."

Hiei groaned, "Get me back in bed. I feel like shit."

"You need to eat, and you need a shower. Come on, Shuichi's made breakfast."

He sighed and got his feet under him, pushing her away, walking on his own. He wouldn't burden the damn Fox's mate, she already had enough on her plate being mated to the Fox. She followed him down the steps and into the kitchen where they sat at the square table waiting for Kurama to finish cooking.

Kurama brought over a familiar mug of hot chocolate and put it down in front of Hiei. "I'm very sorry it took us so long to find you Hiei. It took some ingenuity on our part actually. We had to find your DNA so one of the spirit devices could track you, and then it still took several days of running in Demon World to locate you."

Hiei stared down at what Kurama often considered 'his' mug and touched it lightly. He wanted to give some of it to Daisy and the others. He sighed and rested his head against the table, "It's okay Fox."

"Are you in any pain?" Kurama asked softly. He came over with plates of food, setting them down for them to eat from. He sat himself with a cup of tea.

Hiei had to think about that. He'd gotten used to the pain of hunger and hard labor. He'd been acting strong the entire time, and he was strong, but the reality was that in the end he was as weak as they were without his energy. He sighed, "Yes."

Kurama stood at once and crossed to the cabinet pulling out a few bottles. He looked them over, trying to decide, then settled for a green bottle of liquid and a cup of water for Hiei as well. "Eat up and then I'll give you something to sleep and help you recover."

"Fox, if I eat all this food I'm going to vomit."

Kurama stared at him, surprised, then nodded, "Eat what you can and if you have a request for something, please tell me. I'll get it for you."

Hiei swallowed a few times, "Before you came they cut our rations down, we only got half a ration a week."

"Ration?" Asagi asked softly.

"We'd work our shifts to earn our food. A full ration was enough to fill you for a little while, half a ration? Barely anything. It was just a handful of vegetables." He shook his head against the table.

They waited in silence, patient and considerate.

"I don't want to ruin anything by throwing up on it Fox. This food is too rich, probably." He pushed himself up and looked over the table.

"I'll make you some toast with honey," Kurama popped up. He came back with it after waiting on the toaster and offered it to Hiei as Asagi dug into the other food.

"Thank you Fox." Hiei took it and started eating at once.

"Tell me when you want more."

Hiei nodded and slowed himself down, taking a sip of hot chocolate. He moaned in delight when it coated his tongue, but only let himself have a small sip. He remembered telling them about hot chocolate. He changed to the water.

When he finished breakfast, Kurama offered him the option of something to help him sleep, or just something to help with the pain, or alcohol. He waited for Hiei to pick his choice.

Hiei considered it for awhile before he grabbed the alcohol and started sipping on it. He coughed a little when he got a sip down.

Kurama added painkillers to that without much concern and got a glass himself. "So, you said her name was Daisy? You don't happen to have her DNA do you?"

He shrugged, "I slept beside her, it could be anywhere on me."

"Only if you have her blood on you somewhere, or her hair."

"Probably not. Maybe her hair," he started going over his clothes looking for a long brown strand. He could practically see her long braid which swung gently back and forth as she walked, and floated for a few moments as she swam in the water, trailing behind her like a tail. He didn't find anything. He took another sip of the alcohol and coughed again, "I don't know Fox."

"Well, now that we know who had you, we should be able to keep track of him and figure out what happened to the survivors."

"I might have someone's blood on me," He examined his knuckles, but he was without that sort of luck. He sighed and closed his eyes. He felt tired and heavy, frail. He leaned against the table. He was the strongest of the group, and while he didn't want to admit it, when it came down to it, he had wanted food. Without regular food he'd grown weak. He had been the one who'd encouraged the pregnancy in the first place. He cursed under his breath and rubbed at his face.

Kurama refilled his glass after he was over half-way done with it.

"I was part of B Block."

"B Block?" Kurama asked softly.

"The Best Block around!" He laughed hard.

Kurama laughed too.

Hiei's laugh changed to a soft whine and he shook his head, leaning back, "Fuck."

"It's alright, talk about it."

"I have to get her out Fox."

"We will, but not until we know how to kill that parasite. We need you to search for them."

Hiei grunted and took a sip of alcohol, followed by water.

Kurama stole his water. "Get drunk Hiei. It'll be best to detox your emotions and help get some of this out."

"I don't want to cry with her here." He stared pointedly at Asagi.

Asagi stood and leaned over the table kissing Kurama. "I'm going to visit your mother. You two be good. Stay with him Handsome, he falls out of beds. I expect you two will stay together?"

Kurama nodded, smiling at the nickname they'd agreed on so long ago. "Please give her my regards." He watched Asagi go before scooting his chair over closer to Hiei, wrapping his arm over his friend's shoulders, supporting him.

Hiei leaned against him, curling close, "If I don't get her out that fucking Boru will get his hands all over her and hurt her."

Kurama set his glass aside and scooped Hiei up, depositing him in the living room on the couch before retrieving a large stash of strong alcohols and his cup, along with a pitcher of water for later. He settled down right next to Hiei wrapping his arm over his shoulders again letting the little demon snuggle as he chose. "Boru?"

"The damn bastard. I hate him." Hiei seethed, "He wouldn't listen to her and kept trying to rape her."

Hiei felt Kurama stiffen a little before he poured more alcohol realizing this was going to take more than just a couple glasses.

"When I first got there, Daisy is the one who cared for me. I'd call her the Mother of B Block. She always smiled, always sweet." Hiei sipped his alcohol, "I was a record setter in B Block too, I woke up and got up on my first day there." He closed his eyes, "Her bed was nice."

"Tell me about her."

"Daisy? She had this long brown braid," He smiled, "When I first was introduced she gave me her rations to eat and I ate half. She showed me how the place worked. I tried to escape once, and she helped me tend to my wounds. God Fox, she did so much."

"You don't think she was part of the establishment do you? Someone in there with you to help keep you all in line?"

"No. Daisy wouldn't do that. If she was, she would've encouraged the pregnancies. She refused to get pregnant."

He could sense Kurama's confusion before he asked. "How does that relate?"

"Well," Hiei shifted, "Our workshift is in part decided by if a block has a pregnancy. If you have a pregnancy you work more, so you get more food. In the end every block but ours was pregnant I think, and she was still against becoming pregnant. We were all so hungry." He paused, "They're still hungry." The realization hit him hard in the gut, "They're still hungry." He repeated, glancing up at Kurama.

"I had Yusuke ask Hokushin to keep an eye on the area to see if there's a chance to snag them as they clear the rubble away before we left Demon World. Chances are they have an underground network to move around though."

"She might be dead." Hiei gasped a little, "Fox."

"We need your Jagan. Once we can get the parasite out of your blood, and you have your energy back, you can find out exactly where she is, if she's alive or dead, and give us an idea about how to rescue her without killing her."

"Fox," he whined.

"I know Hiei, I know, but there's nothing to be done for it right now."

Hiei buried his head against him and whined louder, clutching at his shirt.

"Tell me about what they had you doing."

Hiei sighed, and leaned back, "We shoveled the dirt and rocks so C Block could continue crushing."

"To what ends?"

"None, just keep shoveling."

"Oh. What did you do when the other blocks were working?"

"Stayed in our little area, sleep, bathe."

"Tell me more about Boru."

"Hn. Ice demon, couldn't take 'no' for an answer, overall dick."

"Tell me more Hiei, talk to me."

"I just, god. There was so much Fox." He rested his head against Kurama's chest and sipped the alcohol more, "Curutsu, Iguri, Troku, Himida, Deiru." He sighed, "Iguri was a fire demon. She wanted me to sire her children. Curutsu was a cat, but she didn't have a tail. Deiru seemed pretty gay. Himida, Troku? Eh, nothing special."

"What was Daisy?"

"Spirit hawk, but she didn't have any attributes of one besides a bit of a longer face and yellow-gold eyes. Long brown hair. She was pretty."

"And you liked her?"

"Yeah, I guess. I would've sired her children." He offered. He didn't really want to admit it, but he took a sip of alcohol, "Yes. I liked her."

"Why would you have done that with her?"

"I liked her."

"How long had she been there?"

"I don't know. Never cared to ask, I think she was the first B Block member, maybe."

"Drink up Hiei."

Hiei took a sip and coughed, "It's rough Fox." He chuckled.

"I have a hypothesis though, so get drunk."

"What is it Fox?"

"Well, you know how when you get drunk you get tipsy because the alcohol works into your blood?"

"You think it'll kill the parasites."

"It is a sterilizing agent."

"We need some of this for Daisy and the others then." Hiei took a long swig and shook his head.

"We'll see if it works or not."

"Alright." Hiei finished that glass and sighed, "As soon as I'm better we're getting her."

"Of course Hiei."

Hiei poured himself a glass and chugged it down.

"I'm hoping that your blood pressure and your blood toxicity levels together make it hard for the parasites to live."

"Mm. God, she must think I'm dead."

"How did you get out? I didn't find you near anyone else. I found you in the halls."

"I started going through and found an exit. I went ahead to see how far it went, and go get the others. I left my cloak and scarf behind for her. I guess something hit my head like you said."

"Yeah, you were buried under a little bit of rubble."

"I… I don't want her to be sad Fox."

"You have to worry about yourself first Hiei."

"I know Fox." Hiei set his glass aside and took the bottle in hand, he tipped it back to take a sip and paused, "I'll probably vomit all of this up later, you know that, right?"

"Then take it a little slower. You can vomit after a few hours."

"Regardless of how slow I take it I'll probably vomit." He offered.

"Try not to. You need to keep your blood alcohol level high."

Hiei nodded and took it slower.

"Keep talking to me Hiei, I want to hear about what's been going on."

"There's so much Fox." Hiei murmured.

"Start at the beginning." Kurama settled in for a long story.

Hiei sighed, and thought for a while to figure out what to say, and then he started by explaining how he got captured, and continued talking for nearly three hours before he felt too tired to keep it up. He yawned loudly, feeling woozy from the alcohol.

"Let's go to bed." Kurama scooped him up as Hiei finished off his last drink. They went to Kurama's room, where he laid him on the bed, and stole the cup before pulling off his shirt and pants, slipping into bed with Hiei.

Hiei snuggled close to him, wrapping his arms around him.

Kurama stiffened and looked down at him, "Hiei?"

"What?"

"You're snuggling with me. Are you…? Let me see your Jagan, make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine Fox, I'm fine." Hiei denied.

"You're snuggling." Kurama pointed out, not sure what to do with his arms.

"I know I am, I snuggled with Daisy all the time."

"Oh." He still didn't sound comfortable.

"I'm used to it. We did it partly because comfort, closeness, and the other part warmth."

Kurama loosely lay his arm over his side. "Um, okay. Goodnight."

"I can snuggle differently if this is too weird Fox."

"N-no, it's okay."

"You… You sure Fox?"

"Yeah." He settled. "I just, well, I usually snuggle like this with Asagi, but she's..."

"Did you marry her?"

"We're getting there."

"You love her Fox?"

"I do."

"Like I love Daisy," Hiei murmured quietly.

"Do you?"

He nodded against his chest, "Yeah."

"Why do you think you love her?"

"I don't know Fox, I just do. She's so kind, gentle, caring."

Kurama ran his fingers through Hiei's hair. "Let's get some sleep."

"Okay Fox." He settled in for a night of sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Daisy stumbled, her hands bound before her, and had a sack over her head. The chains on her wrists and neck just made it all the more certain that she was nothing. They dragged her along, hooked her like a wild animal to a wall, and went about their work, leaving her alone to stand and wait for someone else to come. She wanted to cry, to pity herself, and hide, but there was nowhere to go, and to do so would be to lose even more of herself. She had to maintain what she had. Daisy resolved herself to wait, smelling the potatoes from the sack. That was all there was for it. Her stomach growled with a vicious hunger at the smell.

Chains jangled and she was yanked ahead, told to wait, then more chains, and she heard herself stumbling along with others. There were three other people with her now, if she was hearing right. They walked for hours, her feet freezing on the cool ground, and her toes complaining every time she hit a rock or a bump that stubbed them.

When at last, she heard the thick, heavy bars close behind herself and the others, and the keys were shoved into someone's hands, she still had to wait as whomever it was removed their chains first, and then the other two, leaving her alone, attached to the wall.

"Where are we?" a little girl's voice asked softly.

"Our new home I guess." It was a male voice, thick and deep. She waited for them to come and release her.

The little girl sighed, "I liked the old one."

"I know honey, but we can't go back." She felt someone touching her hood. They yanked it off. The man who took off her hood was a man with dark purple skin, with yellow stripes, like a tiger's. The two girls had his yellow stripes, but nearly blue skin tones rather than the dark purple.

"She's so peach," There were two girls, twins, and they stood to either side of the man Daisy assumed was their father.

"Where'd you get that scarf?"

"A friend of mine."

"What are you?" The man asked.

"I'm a spirit hawk."

"Oh. Where are you from?"

"B Block?"

He shook his head. "I haven't heard of a B Block. We had Groups where I was. What were you doing?"

"Um, we were digging a tunnel."

"Can I touch your cloak?" One of the little girls stepped forward.

"Yes." Daisy nodded.

She touched it, "It's soft."

"Yes, it was his too."

"Girls, go see if you can find a way out of here." The man shooed them off. He still hadn't unchained her from the wall.

The girls walked away together to find a way out.

"What's your name, Woman?"

"Daisy. What's your name?"

"Urubi."

"What are your daughter's names?"

"Ranami and Urusa. They're twins, so I wouldn't bother trying to tell them apart if I was you."

"You were separated from their mother?"

He nodded. "We were a breeding group."

Daisy's face fell. "Oh."

"Yeah. You were a tunneling group then?"

"A work block, yes. Do you know what we are now?"

He shrugged. "I'd assume a breeding block considering there's only the four of us, three women and one man."

Daisy felt the dread building in her stomach. He was right. They didn't usually put many women in a work block together, they needed strong shoulders and strong bodies to dig. If this was a work block, they must have a lack of men to spread into this group. They clearly were a late joiner to the groups here, but what did that mean? What happened to the others?

Daisy swallowed. "Will you unchain me, please?"

"Not yet." Urubi shook his head.

"There's no way out." The girls came back wet.

"The pool is warm."

That didn't seem like a good thing for her. Daisy held her breath watching the two girls. Why would they put their father with them if they wanted breeders?

"What's your name?" One of the girls asked.

"Daisy, what's yours?"

"I'm Urusa."

"I'm Ranami!" The other girl chirped up.

"It's nice to meet you both."

Urusa smiled widely at her.

"Girls, what did you find?"

"This place is big! There's a giant pool in the back around that corner," she pointed. "Oh, and there are bars over there too into the hallway and we can see the other side."

"There's no one in there."

"Are there any tunnels in the water?"

The girls shook their heads. "Not that we saw."

"We're not good at swimming. It was deep and dark in there."

"Urubi, can you go check for tunnels in the pond?" Ranami asked gently, holding her hands behind her back and wiggling back and forth.

"Of course I will." he kissed her head and handed her the key stepping out.

Usura smiled at Daisy, "Were they a good friend?"

"Yes, he was a very close friend. He was the last person who joined my block." Daisy had too twist to look over her shoulder and see her.

"Did he die?"

"I-I think so, but we never found a body."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Usura frowned.

"It's alright. Is Urubi your father?"

"His brother's our father."

"Oh, so you're his nieces." They nodded.

That boded ill as well. If they were his nieces that meant they could expect him to breed with them when they came of age.

They let Daisy down from the wall after getting naps, when Urubi could stay up and watch her. Daisy settled down against the thick stone wall, and didn't comment, just rubbed her wrists.

After several hours, they were given a lighter for their fire-pit, then dragged out for work. Daisy felt relief in every swing of the pickaxe as the two girls and their uncle used their energy to break up the rock so she could move the large pieces away.

Two weeks passed working every few days before there was a commotion in the hallway. The guards shouted and began running away from the deep tunnels towards the surface, where they could hear the clanging of metal and screams.

Daisy moved to get their small group together, but a hand grabbed her arm before she could get far.

"Daisy! Come on!"

"W-ha-what?" Daisy stumbled being dragged the other way, and turned only to fall off her feet. "Hiei!" she jumped after him, trying to get to him.

Hiei scooped her up, "Come on, we need to get out of here." He glanced up at the ceiling for a moment before bolting.

Daisy hugged him tightly. "Oh my god! You're alive!" tears flooded to her eyes as she buried her head against his shoulder, shaking.

"Of course I'm alive." He scolded, flaring his energy as Demon World's sunlight came up quick.

Daisy had lifted her head for a moment to see his face, but yelped when the harsh sun met her eyes. She buried her face against him again and relaxed. "Hiei," she cried again.

"I'm here, I have you." Hiei told her firmly.

She wrapped her hands into his new cloak, squeezing it tightly in her grasp so he couldn't go away. "Hiei, you're here."

"I'm here." He agreed. Their motion slowed and she felt him jump up and settle down. He sat down and sighed, "I'm here, don't move suddenly out of my grasp or you'll fall."

"Why would I let you go?" she laughed and bit his scarf just to hold more of him. She squirmed trying to get closer to him.

He shrugged and rubbed her back, "I don't know."

"God, what happened? Where were you?" she demanded opening her eyes to see him. She couldn't wait for an answer, she kissed him once she saw his familiar eyes.

He moaned a little and leaned back, "I saw an exit and left my cloak and scarf behind so you'd know I went somewhere. I was in the halls when the ceiling came down, or the wall, something, and knocked me out."

"You scared me. I thought you died!" she shouted at him, still clinging.

Hiei dropped his head, "I'm sorry. I couldn't get back, Kurama found me."

"Kurama? Your friend?" Daisy looked around and gasped at what she saw. They were on the edge of a battle. Three men were fighting off guards on the ground. They were in the trees. As they fought, men and women snuck out of the exit darting into the trees, vanishing in every direction.

"Yes." Hiei nodded, "They're down there."

"Where are, are those the prisoners?"

"Yes." He leaned forward and kissed her cheek softly.

Daisy watched with bated anticipation. "Did you release their doors?"

"Mhmm."

"Thank you." she kissed him again.

Hiei kissed her back and nuzzled against her.

"Did you get rid of the parasites?"

"Yes." He nodded, "Pretty easy actually."

"How?"

"Drink alcohol."

She laughed. "Really?"

He nodded, "Really."

"That's an easy cure to find."

"It is." He kissed her cheek again.

"You came back for me." She stared at him.

"Of course."

"But you came back," She leaned into him and kissed him again.

He kissed her and leaned back for a moment, "Of course."

"But we moved."

"I have a Jagan."

"I know, but how did you find me? I barely have any energy. I don't know how you could have used… how did you? I was so far underground."

"Partly Jagan, smell," he shrugged, "Grabbing a guard and slamming him into a wall until he gave me answers."

She laughed and tightened her grip. "God, why did you risk it? They could have caught you again. They could have..."

"Because I love you."

She pulled back and stared at him. Did he mean that or was it just because they were in that horrible situation together? Did he love her or did he love her act? Did he know her? She stared at him trying to decide just how much that could be true.

He watched her back, silent.

"Well I know I love you, but..." there was so much he didn't know about her. Could it really matter? She didn't know him for sure either. She barely knew if she should believe if he was Hiei Jaganshi, and what that meant if he was.

"But?"

"You don't… do you know me? I mean, could we really know each other?"

"We can."

"Hiei I..." she stared at him.

"Daisy," he murmured softly.

She was distracted by a distinct, vicious cry that shrieked out over the battlefield. She shrunk down and stared up at the energy that bellowed into the battlefield. It landed as a tall gaunt man with shaggy brown hair that was spiked with black, grey and gold. He pulled a sword and launched into an attack against the black haired kid.

Hiei rubbed her back, watching.

"That's Vrishnu." Daisy whispered. She hadn't seen the man in years. She wasn't even sure how long, but she knew he had new scars. She could see them even from this distance. Her eyes focused, exposing the golden rings on the deep inside of her irises as they closed to focus.

"Want me to go help?"

She started to shake her head, but waited, watching Vrishnu attack the man viciously with a flurry of energy attacks of wind. "I don't want to see you hurt. I don't want to let you go, but they will need you."

"I know."

"You need to go. You need to surprise him. He'll keep everyone back with those wind attacks, and gradually wear them down. He doesn't play fair, he just keeps pummeling people."

"Alright, stay here." Hiei shifted to trade places with her, "I'll be back."

Daisy grabbed the tree branch to hold on herself, letting him free himself and go help fight.

He kissed her and leapt down to join the fight.

Daisy held her breath as she watched Hiei vanish. She wanted to close her eyes, to respect the man, to get some sort of semblance of honoring the relationship she had to him, but she wanted him dead. All those people who kept pouring out of the caves, all of the other holds he had around Demon World, and for what? What was the goal here? He was work for hire, but the people he put to work, the conditions they lived in, that she had lived in for all these years were disgraceful. He deserved to die, and she needed to know for sure that he was dead.

Hiei got down there quickly, and Vrishnu was dead within minutes.

Daisy sighed in relief as some of the guards saw their bread-ticket die. They began to disperse, running off as long as they weren't afraid of getting caught up on one of the attacks.

Hiei was back quickly after helping with some stubborn guards, jumping up, "Daisy."

"Thank you." She grabbed him but she was too weak to pull him down.

He came to her and shifted spots with her again.

"Hiei, please, I need, I need," what did she need? She squeezed him and snuggled herself close, trying to catch her breath.

"What? What do you need?" He held her tight.

"I don't know," she shook her head and sighed, relaxing against him.

"I'm here."

"That's what I want."

He kissed her head, "I'm here." He squeezed her.

"I love you."

"I love you too Daisy."

"I missed you."

"I did too."

"You came to me," she laughed and pressed her head against him.

"Hey up there!" one of the men called up, waving.

Daisy looked down at him, confused. She snuggled closer to Hiei.

"What?"

"We've sort of got all this wrapped up. You want to come down?"

"Wanna go down?"

"If you are going down, I'll stay with you." She replied softly.

The other two came over as well. Daisy sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Hiei pulled her into his arms and jumped down to meet them.

"Hi there," The redhead smiled softly to her. "Daisy?"

Daisy leaned against Hiei holding onto his arm now as she stood on her feet. "I'm, I'm Daisy."

"This is Kurama." He gestured to the redhead, "Yusuke," he pointed at the black haired kid, "And Kuwabara."

"Hello." Daisy looked between the three of them. They were all bigger than Hiei, but Yusuke was about her height. She wrapped her arm around Hiei's holding him.

"So this is her?" Yusuke smiled.

"Yes Detective."

"I'm a her?" Daisy asked him curiously.

"Yes, you're definitely a her." Kurama chuckled. "Come on, let's get you home." He held out a hand to her, but Daisy didn't take it, she held onto Hiei instead.

Hiei chuckled, "Lead the way Fox."

"We can move faster if you pick her up,"

Kuwabara nodded. "Yeah, I'd like to get back to Yukina."

Hiei scooped her up, "Let's go."

Yusuke led them off.

*Bit of a short chapter, but the next one will be longer!


	5. Chapter 5

They made it to Kurama's house after a few hours and Hiei set her down. "Alright, alcohol?" Daisy asked curiously.

Hiei nodded and led her into the kitchen, finding a bottle and handing it to her.

Daisy took the bottle and searched for a glass. She found one after a little while and poured a drink for herself, sipping it. She moaned in delight and held the bottle close.

"It'll kill the parasites."

"Do you want to go to the living room?" Kurama offered softly.

"Come on," Hiei led her out into the living room.

Daisy settled into the couch next to Hiei.

Hiei smiled and sighed. "This is good."

"I haven't been on a couch in years." Daisy laughed, feeling the soft fabric beneath her hand.

"How long were you in there for?"

She shrugged and drank deeply.

Hiei chuckled.

"It was a long time. I don't really know how long. I mean, when I went in," she sighed, "I think Mukuro, was staying strong, and The Shadow Lord was starting to come into power."

"A long time." Hiei nodded.

"Yeah."

"How did you get captured?" Kurama asked.

"I- uh," she sighed and glanced at Hiei. "It's complicated."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I tried to free everyone."

"And you got captured."

"Yeah," she said softly. "It wasn't really that simple though."

"No?"

"No, I um, I had some pull with Vrishnu."

"He was a spirit hawk too, wasn't he?" Kurama pressed.

Daisy looked up at him, nervous. She didn't comment.

"It's alright." Hiei offered.

"I'm not sure it is. I was his… I was..." Daisy sighed and edged away from Hiei, leaning to the other side on the arm of the couch. "I was his daughter."

"Hn."

Daisy stared at him, wondering what he would say about that.

"So?" Hiei shrugged.

"You're not upset with me?"

"Why would I be upset with you?"

"I'm his daughter. I was… When I was growing up, I knew about what he did, about how he did it, and I did nothing. I didn't do anything until I saw someone get captured, a little girl who just wanted some help."

"It's fine." Hiei waved her off.

"How could it be fine?"

"It's fine. You've changed."

Daisy dropped her head. "I hope so."

Hiei took her hand, "You have."

"Can you forgive me?"

"Yes." Hiei squeezed it.

Daisy snuggled close again and finished her cup, "Can you refill me?" she asked in the same tone, holding out the cup and giving Hiei her sweetest smile.

Hiei filled it up for her.

She kissed him. "Thank you."

He kissed her.

Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara all stared at them.

"Well, I for one want to know more about this lovely lady who has so clearly, changed, our friend." Yusuke told the others.

Daisy looked around at everyone in the room. There was another girl hanging in the wings.

"I'm happy." Hiei shrugged.

"Happy? You call easily kissing someone happy?" Kuwabara chuckled. "Hiei, you're in love."

"Yes, yes I am." Hiei agreed.

"That's great!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

Hiei smiled and kissed her cheek.

Daisy kissed him back and sipped her drink. "It'll be nice to get my energy back."

"What can you do?" Yusuke asked.

"I, um, I can manipulate energy into wind attacks."

"That's nice." Hiei nodded.

"It can be pretty effective. I can also fly and turn into a hawk."

Hiei smiled, "I bet that's nice."

"I can't really say I remember," she chuckled. "Do you think I'll get my energy back tonight?"

"Tomorrow," Kurama offered.

"Kurama has an extra bed we can use."

"Alright."

"You need to drink more first though."

Daisy held up her glass, nodding to him. "Got it."

Hiei grabbed her glass and replaced it with the bottle.

"Hey, I've had to drink out of a bottle for like, twelve years now, I want a glass!" She argued, holding out her hand for the glass back.

"Fine, fine." He gave her the glass back and took the bottle, pouring her a little more.

"Thank you," she kissed him and sipped out of the cup snuggling close.

The others all stared at them in shock.

Hiei grunted at them and kissed her back.

"This is touching." The woman offered.

"We should go up to that bed and see how well it holds up," Daisy whispered to him mischievously.

Hiei grunted at her and kissed her cheek, "Drink."

"But I haven't had privacy in years," she giggled and chugged her drink.

"Drink." He poured her more.

She groaned and snuggled against him, but sipped. "If I vomit it's your fault."

"Yep. I know, I nearly vomited on Kurama."

The woman came over and sat near Kurama.

"I want this," she tugged at his scarf and pulled it off, snuggling into it.

"Take it." He chuckled.

She pulled off the older one and stuffed it in his cloak's neck, snuggling with the new one again.

"Oh, I get the old one." Hiei chuckled.

"It needs to smell like you again," Daisy kissed him.

Hiei accepted it and sighed, resting his head against her.

Daisy yawned and drank the glass down, setting it aside. "Are you sure I need to get drunker?"

"You need to get tipsy." Hiei poured her another glass.

She sighed and nodded, "Fine."

"So Daisy, tell us about yourself," Yusuke requested.

"Oh!" She smiled and sat up straight, folding her hands on her lap, the glass set aside as she crossed her legs at the knee and made herself look as proper as possible. "My name is Hadassah Vrishnu Tain. I was born a long time ago, I've lost track, you know, with the whole," she shrugged like it was no big deal glancing up and giggling a little, "slavery thing."

"Where'd Daisy come from Hadassah?"

"'Dassah' was hard for people to pronounce, but it sounded like daisy if you were drunk, so they started calling me Daisy." She chuckled again, "Actually for a long time I was Hadaisy because they couldn't remember it."

"Strange." Hiei chuckled.

Daisy nodded. "That's alright though. I've come to enjoy Daisy. I like being a flower." She bat her eyelashes at him slowly with her wide, soft smile, teeth hidden tight as she tucked her head into her shoulder.

Hiei snickered.

"So, back to me," she teased flourishing her hand at her chest, making a show of it. "I love dark nights and gusty days that steal away the heat just barely. I like the chill of fall and the crisp fresh breath of spring, and I haven't had either for a long time, so I'm eager to get back to the seasons."

"I bet you also like hearing beds breaking at night and early morning showers." Hiei snickered.

"Oh hardly," she pawed at him barely letting her fingers touch his shoulder, as she flexed them about. "If I can hear a bed break then I'm not nearly distracted enough to enjoy it."

Yusuke broke out laughing. She laughed along with him and settled back, grinning.

Hiei grumbled.

"Aww, feeling a little, out of attention?" she asked him snuggling up to him again. She rested on his shoulder with her hand under her chin and her legs tucked up beneath herself again. "You're the most handsome man I've ever known."

He chuckled and rubbed her side.

"I hardly got any work done while you were with us. I swear to the lords that you distracted me so much I nearly got whipped five times because I just kept watching the way your muscles flexed and the accuracy of your throws." She spoke softer and softer until she was whispering into his ear, almost too quiet for Kurama to hear, but not quite. "I loved watching you thrust the dirt into the wheelbarrows."

Kurama's face turned beat red which made Yusuke and Kuwabara stare at him curiously.

The woman started chuckling before she burst into loud laughter, clapping Kurama's leg.

Kurama cleared his throat. "I'm going to go grab more alcohol. Clearly she's not had enough."

Daisy peaked up at him and then leaned against Hiei, pushing her chest into his, grabbing the cup on the table in front of them without really needed to rub against him at all, but doing it anyway, as if he was going to hold her up from falling.

She sipped her drink, and then leaned close to him again, "I loved watching the dirt spill all over you, making you," she bit her lip for a moment, leaning forward to see his eyes, "Dirty." she leaned close enough that her lips brushed against his cheek when she said the word.

Kurama, who was behind the couch at that point, sped up pointedly. That set Yusuke and Kuwabara to laughing because they had actually heard that one too.

Hiei started laughing and kissed her forehead.

Daisy huffed angrily and stood walking over to the window, folding her arms over her chest, holding the cup in the crook of one of her elbows.

"What?" Hiei demanded.

"That's all I get?" She snapped angrily, drinking.

"These fools are here." He pointed at Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Then make them go away."

Hiei tipped his head to side to side.

"No way." Yusuke shook his head. "This is too much fun."

"I could make them go away," Daisy suggested to Hiei casually.

"Oh I can do that easy." Hiei stood and started undoing his belts.

Yusuke crossed his arms and stared at Hiei patiently, but Kuwabara stood sharply.

"Nope! I'm out of here. I don't care if you're bluffing or not, I do not want to see that. Hiei, bring her by. Yukina would love to meet her when she's sober and not as horny as an alley cat."

Hiei stiffened when he said that and froze.

Daisy slipped up behind Yusuke and leaned on the back of his chair, trailing her finger up his ear. "You want to join us?" she asked softly.

"He's married." Hiei snapped.

"Well then, invite the wife," Daisy couldn't say that with a straight face, she giggled.

"No." Hiei rolled his eyes.

Daisy leaned on Yusuke's head with a hand between his hair and her chin, "Aww come on Hiei, he won't get in the way and he so wants to watch."

"No. He has a human wife. He might, but he has a wife and I won't allow that."

She smiled and leaned up. "Really?"

He nodded.

Her smile softened and she felt her chest swell with warmth. She really didn't want Yusuke to join them either, but it was usually a good way to get men to run off, offering sex so bluntly like that. It made them think they had to pay. To hear Hiei say he wouldn't let someone join them felt like he was determined to keep her, and Daisy liked that. She drank down her cup and glanced at Asagi. "So then, how are we going to get away?"

A thought struck her as she crossed over to him. She paused half-way there and turned to stare at Yusuke. Maybe it wasn't that Hiei wouldn't let someone join them, maybe it was just that Hiei respected Yusuke's wife too much to allow Yusuke to fornicate with anyone but her. Maybe she should be the jealous party here instead of feeling good.

Daisy stared at Yusuke a little while longer, imagining Hiei with Yusuke. If Hiei had a past relationship with the man, and he had been stolen by this other woman, then that would explain his protection of the relationship. Daisy popped over to Hiei gently grabbing the cuff of his sleeve, and tugged him over to Yusuke, making him stand beside him.

"What?"

She stepped back and stared at them critically. Aside from a glance, Yusuke accepted Hiei in this close proximity.

Hiei crossed his arms, "What are you getting at woman?"

Daisy just smiled and waved him off. "Just, I want to see." She took a step closer and shoved Hiei's chest back, making him stumble and fall into Yusuke's lap. She jumped back and tipped her head, staring. Yusuke tried to catch him, but didn't push him off. He just supported him.

"Is there a reason for this nonsense?" Hiei demanded, holding Yusuke's arm.

"You two are so comfortable with one another," Daisy nearly crooned.

"It's because we've worked together for a long time. The Detective is a lucky bastard, sometimes I figure his luck will come to me." He snickered.

"Aww," she cooed and squeezed her shoulders in, wiggling a little. "You're adorable together!" Her hands came up to her face, holding the cup in front of her nose as she stared at them.

Hiei groaned and rested his head back against Yusuke, "What is she on about, Detective?"

"No idea."

"Oh! Oh! Where's that redhead?" She looked around and saw Kurama coming out of the kitchen with a bottle. He froze, eyes wide and standing stark still, breath held. She caught his eyes.

"She shoved me onto the Detective, Fox."

"No!" Kurama yelled when Daisy hurried over towards him. He held up his finger like he was scolding a child. "No! I will not be involved in this fantasy of yours!"

"Come on Fox, we could be like those hot cartoon characters you used to watch as a teenager." Hiei teased.

"Don't you realize what she's doing? She's shipping us."

Daisy pouted as visibly as she could, letting her shoulders droop and turning her head down to pout up at him. "Aw, come on," she whined.

"Hn. Well, the Detective got more comfortable." Hiei shrugged.

Yusuke chuckled. "I'm not drunk enough for this." He sipped the beer he had.

Kurama quickly retreated to Asagi's side when Daisy slipped a little closer to him, and wrapped her up in his arms, glaring at Daisy.

Asagi wrapped her arms around him and said bluntly, "Mine."

Daisy huffed and went back to her couch sitting with her legs crossed watching Yusuke squirm under Hiei trying to get comfortable himself.

"Would you stop squirming so much Detective?" Hiei offered.

"You're the one who's acting weird here, pipsqueak, not me."

"I've gotten used to touch. This doesn't bother me." Hiei shrugged.

Daisy giggled and finished her drink, pouring herself another. In her head, she was imagining the way they might have met, probably somewhere dark like a bar, and Yusuke would have been completely straight beforehand, then Hiei's mystery and allure swept him off his feet and suddenly he couldn't stop thinking about anything but the young male with the ruby eyes.

"Detective, if you don't stop squirming you're going to make this even more awkward."

"I'm not used to men sitting on my lap!"

Hiei rolled off of him onto the couch, "Hn."

Daisy gasped and felt her heart wench. They broke up because Yusuke wasn't ready for that type of relationship. Hiei tried, and tried to make it work, but after all those months of seduction, he left empty handed. "No wonder you were so afraid of touch," Daisy got up and pulled Hiei into a hug, snuggling with him.

"What?" Hiei frowned.

She nuzzled against his head and whined for his pain.

"The Detective and I were never an item and are not an item."

"Of course you're not," she cooed holding his shoulders staring into his eyes, nearly in tears. "He rejected you."

Hiei stared at her for a while, frowning deeply, "I never wanted the Detective."

"Oh, it's alright Hiei, I understand," she nodded solemnly. "It's very sad."

"No. I don't have any interest in the Detective's ass."

"Of course not, you were interested in his dick. He's the straight one, so you had to compensate and allow him to be top, but it never happened. He rejected you."

"I wasn't interested in his dick either! God woman! We never had a fling, he never rejected me!"

Yusuke laughed very hard having a hard time breathing.

"If I was interested in any man that way it'd be that stupid Fox over there." He thumbed at Kurama.

Kurama stiffened again, he'd settled back down in a chair and Asagi sat beside him in another one, but they weren't touching.

Daisy stared at the two of them skeptically. "Oh, look at that. You two aren't actually dating are you?" Daisy circled them examining their body language closely. Kurama was on the defensive, Asagi was a little annoyed, but also very relaxed.

"We are." Asagi dismissed her with a wave of her hand, "You're drunk, go bother Hiei."

"But, if you're dating, then why don't you want to be with him? Do you want to see what I'll say? Are you curious about this relationship with Hiei?"

"No. I know they're very good partners and have been for a very long time."

"Oh, you're nervous about competing with Hiei."

"I'm not nervous about anything."

"A little bit," Daisy offered, watching her closely.

"No." Asagi denied bluntly.

"You met Hiei weird. You don't trust him so much. You're private." Daisy knelt down in front of Asagi and crossed her arms on Asagi's lap, staring up at her face.

Asagi took her arms in hand and pushed her back, "No. Stop. I am a very private person for my own reasons and you do not need to know those reasons."

Daisy felt a deep sorrow course through her as she watched Asagi's reaction. Her mood darkened as she stood back, staring at the woman, waiting sadly.

Asagi just watched her back.

Daisy could see the dislike on Asagi's stern face, and the way she sat. She wasn't relaxing into the spotlight, she was hating it. The longer Daisy waited with her, the longer Daisy brooded on her, the more tense Asagi became. This woman was private, that was true, but was it out of necessity, or desire? Asagi didn't look like a quiet woman, she looked like she should be outgoing, bright, but she was hurt. Kurama wasn't fixing it.

"Why are you so intent on bothering me?"

"I'm sorry," Daisy bowed and shot a glare at Kurama, turning away with a snap.

"Remind me not to get you drunk ever again." Hiei requested.

Daisy brightened when she saw Hiei, her body warmed and she relaxed. She reached for him, taking his sleeve in hand. "There you are," she said softly, then looked around for her cup. She found it on the table beside Yusuke. She picked it up and grabbed a bottle to fill it again.

"Are we alright here Fox?" Hiei inquired.

"Of course. I'm sure you and Daisy will be very occupied tonight anyway judging by how she likes you."

"I meant your mate."

Kurama stared at Asagi waiting for some sort of communication to pass between them. Daisy watched curiously, standing behind Hiei.

Asagi just glanced at him and shrugged, "No more alcohol, unless she needs it, eh?"

"Or at least not while we're home I suppose."

Asagi nodded, "I'll tell you about it later."

Daisy scoffed. "Some pick you've done."

"Hm?" Asagi looked at her.

"He hasn't helped has he?" she spat out before she could stop herself. "You still hurt, whatever it is, you still hurt."

Asagi waited.

"You're supposed to be in love!" Daisy stepped forward again, staring down at Asagi. She gestured to Kurama, "He's supposed to make you feel like all the world's a pretty bubble and you're going to float down to the surface where you'll live forever."

"The thing is though that I know the world isn't a pretty bubble so it'd be a waste of time for him to make that fantasy."

"It doesn't matter if you're stuck in a jail cell or out in the wind, he's supposed to make you feel that way!" Daisy shouted, pointing angrily at Kurama.

Kurama stood. "I think I get what's going on here. Daisy," he summoned. Daisy stared at him, angry that he could leave her to molder in her pain, "We're both healing. We never got the puppy love because we've known each other for years, but I assure you, I love her, and she makes my life better. I hope that it is the same for her, but I won't speak on Asagi's behalf."

Daisy stepped back, watching him. She paced back and forth a little, looking him over. He was closed. She couldn't read his expressions. Daisy turned back to Hiei and settled back down on the couch. She didn't want to stay here.

Asagi leaned over and took Kurama's hand, tugging him back into his chair.

Daisy brooded leaning on her knees as she heard Kurama sit back down again. She looked down when her glass moved a little in her hand. She sipped it, and shut her eyes. She was having a hard time thinking now. Her head felt heavy.

Hiei came over to her and rubbed her back, "I think that's enough alcohol."

Daisy set it aside quite willingly and curled up to his side, resting her head against his. "Boru and Igumi were broken up. We all were. They came and found us, and separated us. I don't know where they went," she whined.

"Does it matter?" Hiei asked quietly.

"Yes it matters. I know you don't like Boru, but he wasn't always that bad. He came in, this, strong-headed child."

"If I see him again I can't promise I won't slice him in half."

"Oh, Hiei," she sighed and rubbed his chest. "No, you can't say that."

"I can."

She sighed, "Boru is a lot like you, you know, not the side you show with me, not your protective side, just, your boldness, your strength. Boru ran a small territory at the edge of The Forest of Betrayal. He lived there for the first hundred years of his life."

"Hn."

"He never had friends. It took him a long time to trust that we wouldn't kill him."

"Such a sob story," Hiei nearly snarled.

Daisy sighed, "I know he was still rough around the edges, but he never had the chances to really understand sharing, or people. He's feral, that's all. If you're strong willed with him, he's perfectly willing to step in line. That's why you two butt heads so much. You two were constantly fighting for control rather than one of you just assuming it."

Hiei grunted.

"You're both too submissive to know how to handle being in charge." Daisy peaked up at him hoping he'd prove her otherwise in bed tonight, a sneaky smile spreading over her face.

Hiei just stared at her.

"Nothing?" she whined, aghast. "I've been holding back all these months because I didn't want a child and now," she sighed heavily.

"What, you want a child?"

"Mm," she considered that. She couldn't consider that. Her head wasn't clear enough to think about that. "I don't know."

She heard Asagi sigh and get up, heading into the kitchen.

"Hiei, is Asagi okay? I'm worried about her."

"I don't know. I'm not her mate. I don't know Asagi."

"They're not mates."

Kurama stood up too, and strode after Asagi.

"Close enough."

Daisy scoffed. "I hope you don't treat me like that. I want to be closer than that." Daisy picked up her chin enough to look into his face.

Hiei rubbed her back, "He's just not relaxed. They're close."

"What if, you know mirrors? You can stand on either side of a glass wall, hands touching on either side of the glass when you look at it, but you're still miles apart if there's no exit nearby."

"They're close. They've worked for years, they're just both private people. They don't show their affection.

"Worked for years, worked for years," Daisy scoffed. "That doesn't mean much."

"Worked for years together." Hiei amended.

"It still doesn't mean much. Does Kurama ever let go?"

"Yes."

"Is she ever there when he does? Does she ever let go when he does?"

"They've fucked."

Daisy scoffed again and sat up a bit to stare at him. "You've never been close with someone else, have you?"

"Not really."

Daisy took a few breaths. "Let's go up to bed? I'm sure I've upset them. I don't mean to be a bitch. I just, speak what's in my head when I'm drunk and I'm afraid I've got very good eyesight. I see the minutia of expressions."

"You can go apologize."

"I'm not sure I can drunk. I might just make things worse." She sighed. "I don't like seeing people hurt. It angers me. I have to fix it when I see it. I have to figure it out, and," she sighed. "Those two are in some serious need of help."

"Yeah. I can apologize for you."

"Wouldn't that seem insincere?"

"You're drunk."

Daisy sighed and curled up on the couch with a pillow. Why had she wanted to go up to bed with him right then? What was her thought? She needed to grab at it again. What were they talking about before he suggested apologizing? She tried to rewind their conversation, re-collect her thoughts.

Hiei got up, "I'll be right back." He headed for the kitchen.

She would have to apologize tomorrow, and find some way to make it up to Asagi. Maybe if she gave Asagi her dinner that would help bridge the gap. Maybe she could clean her back for her, give her a massage. Why had the water been warm? Did her father really put her in a breeding block? She squirmed in discomfort.

"You alright Daisy?" Yusuke asked.

"No," she sighed. "I can't remember why I wanted Hiei in the bedroom." She lay her head on the back of the couch staring over it at nothing in particular.

"Get close to him?"

Daisy nodded, that was it. She was going to try to open up to him, to let down her facade. It was already pretty much gone. She'd forgotten Yusuke was there. She sighed, and left it off, staring still.

Hiei came back and sat beside her again.

Daisy reached out for his sleeve, but pulled her hand back, he didn't understand that. She shut her eyes and put her hand under her chin again. She should explain that to him.

Hiei leaned over and rested his head against hers, "Daisy?"

"Yeah?" she offered, wondering what he wanted. He couldn't understand what she was thinking about. She wasn't even sure she was thinking at this point.

"Let's go to bed."

Daisy nodded. "I think that would be good." she would have to apologize to Asagi in the morning.

Daisy stood and looked around the living room, trying to find her bed. Then she remembered it was buried and gone. She was going to be on the floor again. Her face fell at that thought, this floor was so hard, and straight. It was going to be an awkward night.

Hiei took her hand, "Come on." He tugged her upstairs.

Daisy slowed about halfway up the stairs. Her legs didn't want to work like that this much. She yawned and forced herself to continue to trudge. She'd get food tomorrow. Daisy shut her eyes as she followed after him blindly.

She heard a door open and Hiei led her in, closing it. Daisy opened her eyes curiously at the uncomfortable noise. He tugged her over to a bed.

They were alone. Daisy stiffened in the doorway and looked about the room. They were actually alone. There was no one else here. Her heart raced, and her cheeks flushed. Why were they in private? The last time she had been in private was, well, no. She couldn't count the transfers because she didn't know if she had actually been alone or not.

Hiei slipped out of his cloak and scarf and threw them on a dresser, setting his sword beside the bed.

She smiled to see him, folding her arms over her chest, leaning on one of her feet to take the weight off the other. He was a pretty man. She'd never call him pretty, not to his face. She had to use handsome, but the way his hair swooped and the soft features of his face made him pretty to her.

Hiei gestured at the bed, "You can get comfortable, or take a shower first." He frowned, "That might be good."

"Where's the pool?" she asked looking around. This place was so small.

"No pool. Shower." He took her hand again, "Come on." He opened the door and led her down the room to another room, opening the door, "This is the bathroom." He explained the basic procedure, and after a brief hazard of trying to get in the shower with all of her clothes on, and more explanations on his part about soap and shampoo, and conditioner, she was clean and back in the bedroom.

Hiei sighed, "Should I explain the bed?" He touched it.

Daisy sort of remembered beds. She crawled on it without another word and sighed in relief. It made her body ache to feel something so soft holding her. The stress and tension in her body eased out of it, but that left the strains on her muscles that reminded her how tense they had been for so long.

Hiei climbed up beside her, abandoning his shirt to the dresser, settling in, "This is known as my room. I don't live here, and before Asagi moved in I would sleep in Kurama's bed with him."

"I don't want to talk about them." Daisy scooted closer to him, using a pillow to support her head as she lay on her side.

"Alright." Hiei wrapped an arm around her, snuggling closer.

"Hiei, I have to admit something you're probably already aware of, but in the interest of closeness, I want to say it out loud. Are you alright with that?"

"Hm?"

"I, uh, I don't often let myself just be, me. I often will respond how I think other people need me to be. I suppose you could say I morph my personality out of what other people think is necessary. I'm not often honest about anything. I lie a lot. Usually it's just about the little things, like what I like, what I don't like, what I think we should do." she sighed. "I try to get along, and that means being people who aren't me."

"You just tell me what you need, what you want, what you like, what you don't like, whatever, and I'm fine with that."

"Well, we were talking about openness, about being close to someone, and to me, that means sharing everything, knowing one another inside and out, and feeling comfortable together, like you can be some other persona you have, and that other person you're open with, will still know you, through that."

"Hm." Hiei shifted, "There's a lot you don't know."

"There's a lot you don't know either."

Hiei sighed and tapped his necklaces, "These are part of it."

"The tear gems?"

He nodded.

"There's bound to be a lot like that," she sighed and watched him closely.

"Mm, not quite like these. These are from my mother."

She blinked and sat up staring over at him, curious.

He took one in hand and twirled it a bit, "Koorime. They're an isolated village of ice women."

"I know who the Koorime are. Vrishnu was always trying to catch some to get himself out of debt."

Hiei growled, "Makes me even happier I killed him. I'm a fire demon-koorime."

Daisy sighed, "That's got to be hard."

"And to Demon World and everyone but Yusuke, Kurama, and Mukuro, a few others," he shrugged, "I am a fire demon."

"I felt like I owed my life to everyone in those jails because I was being trained to take over the place. I felt like I should die there, making life better for everyone I could reach. It was the only sacrifice I could make that felt like it meant anything."

"No." Hiei shook his head.

"Doesn't matter if it's true or not, it's how I felt."

"Do you still feel like that?"

"Yes. I still feel like I owe those people something. I need to know that they're all free."

"You owe them nothing. You gave them your sacrifice, being in there with them."

"My sacrifice meant nothing to them. If I had continued with Father's teachings, then I could have taken that place over, killed him, and released everyone."

"But he captured me," he shot a grin at her.

She dropped her head, feeling her heart heavy with sorrow. "I'm sorry. I could have been rid of him years ago if I had been better at planning."

"Don't be. It's over."

"I could have destroyed that empire though. I just had to think it through better. But no, I was a pampered, sheltered child who thought that Daddy Dearest wouldn't dare do anything to me if I spoke out and that he would actually change his ways for his sweet princess." She was mocking herself.

Hiei glanced over at her, waiting.

Daisy sighed and looked up at him, her heavy feelings worn plainly on her face. She wasn't about to be made cheerful easily.

Hiei leaned over and kissed her softly. Daisy melted into the kiss and sighed in delight. She loved the soft touch of his lips against her own. It was like feeling a tingly cloud brush by her. She smiled.

Hiei leaned back and watched her.

"Um, when I, asked you not to grab my wrists it's because it's an intimate place to touch on my kind. It keeps us from transforming, and it is like holding our foot when we're a hawk. We can't get away. Because it's such a weakness to us, it's a spot we touch on loved ones to share our affection. Also the whole, pinning thing has happened to me a few times when I was in the jails. It was seriously unpleasant," she ejected the information nearly involuntarily.

Hiei leaned back a little more and tipped his head.

"That's why I grab your sleeve."

"Oh." He nodded, "Fire demons… aren't that special like that."

She giggled and smiled. "I know, but I wanted you to understand that when I'm grabbing your sleeve it's because I feel strongly for you and I want to bring you along with me, but I want you to have your own free will to deny me."

"I see."

"And I wanted you to know why I don't want you grabbing my wrists indiscriminately."

He nodded, "Alright."

Daisy lounged out again and snuggled closer to him.

"The only affection my kind can offer like that is a tear gem from happiness."

"All I want is your words," she offered softly.

"The-" He paused, "I've been told I'm not great with words." He teased, giving her a lazy grin.

She laughed. "They're liars. You're great at monologues when you're feeling fired up about something." Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"So are you." He poked her chest gently.

Daisy sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's frustrating sometimes being happy all the time. I always try to project happiness, contentedness, but it's frustrating when I'm feeling sad, or when I see someone's hurting. I couldn't keep it up forever, and Boru often was on the receiving end of my frustration. He's sort of like a brother to me."

"Mm." Hiei kissed her cheek.

"That feels so un-intimate," she turned her head and kissed him on the lips hard, trying to squish them together enough to feel his energy seeping with her own.

Hiei pulled back and chuckled, wiping at his mouth for a moment before he leaned back down and kissed her softer.

"You nearly tickle me," Daisy scolded.

He snickered, "I can tickle you other places."

Daisy's first thought was him trying to tickle her with his penis. She glanced down at him and tried to picture that. Her ticklish spots were often in hard to reach places, like her armpits. If he tried to tickle her armpit with his penis, he might be in for a rude and painful surprise when she squirmed away.

Hiei laughed and kissed her neck softly, ghosting his lips across it.

She shivered, that one had tickled. Goosebumps rippled across her skin. "Hiei, if you don't stop that I'm going to find a way to tie you up to this bed and have my way with you." She might not have her energy back, at all, but she was pretty sure he'd give in if she struggled with him.

"Hn."

The thought of overpowering him enticed her to lace their hands together and push him back trying to flip him onto his back so she could straddle him.

Hiei went easily, flopping onto his back.

"You're so easy," she teased, her braid falling over her shoulder by his head.

He shrugged.

She chuckled and couldn't suppress a yawn. She blinked a few times trying to remember what she wanted him on his back for.

Hiei chuckled, "Come on." He touched her arms, tugging gently.

She whined at him but snuggled up to his side anyway. "We're not staying here are we?"

"Not for long, why?"

"I don't want Asagi to hurt."

Hiei sighed.

"No, I mean like, if Asagi keeps looking hurt I'm going to have to fix her, and that's Kurama's place."

"He'll help her."

"He's doing a shit job of it right now. Honestly that's sort of put me off him."

"He'll do it when he feels he can open up completely and not be private. From what I know Asagi is complicated."

"Well they need a kick in the ass."

Hiei grunted.

"Do you hurt about anything?" Daisy crawled up a little and rested on her hands to stare at his eyes while he answered.

"I hurt about a lot of things, but you can't fix that."

"Tell me about them?"

Hiei glanced at her, "They're such old things."

"I want to know." she rubbed his chest vigorously, then sighed and snuggled up to his side again.

Hiei rolled his eyes and sighed, "I was thrown off Koorime Isle and left to die as a newborn."

"Does that hurt because of the rejection or because you feel like maybe you're unwanted or why does that hurt? What goes through your head?"

"Isn't rejecting and unwanted the same thing?"

"I'm drunk, forgive me." she offered, but they were different to her. Rejection was someone else's opinion, while feeling unwanted was a personal feeling about yourself. She wasn't going to explain that to him.

"You can't fix it."

"I don't care, I want to know."

"Unwanted, unloved, hated, feared." He nearly spat.

Daisy looked up and met his eyes. "Feared?"

He nodded.

"They feared you on the island?"

He nodded, "I'd bring an end to them, us men, such vile creatures, bringers of war."

"Liars."

"Destruction, rape, everything," He sighed, "I went there after they threw me off in search of my mother and my sister. They'd said I would come back and kill them. I couldn't give them that sort of mercy."

Daisy leaned up and kissed him on the lips. "I want you Hiei, and I love you. Or at least, I love everything I know about you so far, and I doubt anything you say will change that. You're not hated now, and as much as others might fear you, I trust you."

He watched her.

"It might not help, but I want to let you know anyway."

He nodded, "My sister is here in Human World."

"Oh, that's surprising. So she doesn't feel like her kind then."

"No, apparently not. She doesn't know I'm her brother though."

"Why?"

"She doesn't need me as her brother."

Daisy frowned. "That's not why. That sounds more like an excuse than a reason."

He huffed, "She gave me her necklace so I could 'find' her brother."

"Now you're just deflecting."

Hiei sighed.

"It's alright, if you don't want to share, you don't have to. If you want me to share instead, maybe to compensate for your honesty, than you just need to ask. I'll tell you anything."

Hiei shifted and wrapped an arm around her, bringing her closer to his chest, "Hn."

Daisy yawned again and nuzzled closer to him, fighting to keep her eyes open, but her head was heavy and warm with alcohol.

He rubbed her back and kissed her head.

"I don't like you kissing me other places than my lips. It makes me feel little, like you're saying I'm your little something or another."

Hiei chuckled and shook his head, "Affection."

"That's familial affection, not lovers," she griped back.

He leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

She smiled into it and kissed him back. "That's better."

He nuzzled into her and sighed.

Daisy drifted towards sleep for a while, but just as she was starting to feel sleep catch her, her mind hazing over into the dark, she jerked and twisted, trying to feel the ground under her again, unused to the bed. She held onto Hiei tightly as she reassociated with her location, then settled back down again.

"It's alright. I'm here." Hiei offered.

"I felt like I was falling." she held onto him tighter.

"I hate that." He squeezed her, "I hate falling."

"Me too." she felt sleep crawling back over her again.

She felt Hiei drift off.

Daisy rolled onto her stomach to feel a little more secure, her hands under her head as Hiei's arm was still draped over her waist. Finally she fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Daisy woke up when her stomach started hurting more than she could ever remember it complaining before. As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, she realized why. She was smelling food. It was rich food too, something familiar, but so far distant in her memory she barely could recall the names. She wrapped her arms around her stomach trying to stop the noisy growling, but it was no use, especially with her head pounding from the ample alcohol consumption last night.

Recalling the night before, she immediately felt like a fool. She glanced around for Hiei, wondering if he'd left her after she treated his friends like shit or not.

Hiei was still there to her surprise, sitting on the window sill, staring out.

Daisy sighed and relaxed, staring at him. "Are you okay?"

"Are you?"

"My head is killing me." Daisy looked around their tiny room. There was a dresser, but not much else.

"We can get you some water, come on." Hiei hopped off of it and came over to the side of the bed, offering his hand. He pulled her up slowly, "You alright? Need to vomit?"

She shook her head and leaned into him. Hiei rubbed her back and started leading her to the door, slow.

Daisy picked up the pace a little when she got her feet under her, eager to get something to drink rather than wait around to follow him at the crawling pace. She needed to move, to find work and get food. Her stomach started growling again.

Hiei picked up the pace and lead her down the stairs and into the kitchen. Asagi and Kurama were in there preparing food. Hiei let her take a seat and brought her a glass of water.

Daisy flushed when she saw Asagi and opened her mouth to say something for a moment before shutting it again and sighing. After a few sips of water, with her stomach rumbling again, Daisy stood and bowed deeply to Asagi. "I'm terribly sorry about yesterday."

"Don't do it again." Asagi grunted.

Daisy nodded and sat back down.

"Do you have something simple for her Fox?" Hiei went over to the man.

Kurama nodded and picked up a plate of toast with jelly, handing it to him.

Hiei brought it over to her and set it down.

Daisy picked it up and nibbled on it, content. When Kurama came over, she smiled and perked up a little. "So, how are you today?" she asked him with her usual pep.

Kurama blinked a few times as he stared at her, confused. "I'm good."

"What's on the agenda?"

"Oh, um, well I'm going to work."

"Oh, I see. And what do you do?" Daisy asked conversationally.

"I'm an assistant manager at a small office which manages a production line."

"That sounds, interesting, but also completely obscure."

"I work with him." Asagi smiled.

Daisy smiled at her too now, "And how are you today?"

"Alright."

"Do you two go to work together then?" Daisy asked them pointlessly. She knew the answer, it had to be yes. They lived together, why not travel together.

"We try to." Asagi nodded.

"Sometimes I have to go in early or stay late, or she does, so we occasionally take separate transportation, but oftentimes one of us will just catch the buses or walk if we get stranded."

Asagi smiled and leaned over, kissing his cheek, "Or we walk together."

Kurama nodded, and kissed her cheek back.

Daisy smiled and let out a soft. "Aw." Kurama flushed and pulled back, focusing on his plate.

Hiei grunted, "When are you two marrying for Shiori?"

"We're not marrying for Shiori, we're marrying for us," Kurama countered bluntly.

"You know what I mean. With the big poofy dress and everything." He rephrased.

"I'm still waiting for a good moment to propose and shock her. So far she's too expecting."

Asagi snickered, "I'm expecting it to be at the Christmas Party."

"See? Yet another event I can't do it at. Seriously Asagi, I'm going to have to plan a surprise party for you to surprise you with my proposal."

"You can surprise me by doing it at an event you said you wouldn't do it at."

"That's the cheap way to do it. No, I don't want a cop-out."

"Good luck," Asagi chuckled.

"I think a surprise party proposal sounds romantic," Daisy commented.

"But I'll be expecting it now." Asagi chuckled.

"Exactly, you'll be coming home waiting for a surprise party all the time. You're going to believe he's constantly thinking about you from now until he proposes just because he has so much to plan.

"I know he constantly thinks about me." Asagi smirked.

Kurama flushed and coughed, "Anyone want some lemonade?"

Hiei started chuckling.

Daisy sighed and relaxed back into her chair, licking her fingers free of the jelly. Her stomach growled again, but she ignored it. "What do you consider romantic Asagi?"

"Hm?" Asagi shifted, "Oh. Plenty of things. I especially like it when he pops into my office to give me a kiss."

"Maybe I should have been a little more specific. What's a romantic way for him to propose?"

"Oh," Asagi frowned and leaned back. She shrugged, "I'm not really sure actually. I'd say what my ex-husband did but, I don't want a repeat."

"What did he do?"

"Well, it was a cheetah thing. It's kind of, weird to explain. I didn't understand it until he explained it a little actually," she chuckled, "Cheetahs are given these little bracelets at birth, it's just sort of, a thing. They work them bigger as they get older and eventually, when they're ready to marry, they give it to their partner. It's supposed to represent their journey, and they're giving you all the 'knowledge' and wisdom they learned on the journey, and loyalty to the bracelet. In their culture it's kind of considered a part of them, so they're giving you a part of who they are."

"That's not a very human way to go about it anyway. I'll be giving you a ring."

"I know, but she asked what was romantic and what my ex-husband did."

Kurama nodded, and finished his breakfast.

"I still have his bracelet actually."

"That must be a nice way to remember him."

Asagi nodded, "And, just the one other bracelet." It was quieter.

Another bracelet? Daisy considered her quietly as she studied her plate. That meant they had a kid together probably, and if she still had her husband's bracelet, he was dead, and if she had her kid's bracelet, that meant they were dead to. That was probably her pain.

Hiei grunted and went back to eating, he'd paused to listen to Asagi.

"So Hiei said you were a spirit hawk. How does it feel to have your energy back?"

"Um," Daisy flexed her energy a little. It was hard to do at the moment, and it still felt weak, but she felt like she could probably transform now, which she couldn't before. "Alright. What type of demon are you?"

"Spirit fox."

Daisy smiled. "Oh! So have you given her your ball? We have pearls."

Kurama coughed, "Not yet."

"Oh."

"You have another ball?" Asagi teased.

"Yeah, what is this other ball?" Hiei teased too.

Kurama flushed and looked between the two of them. "It's personal."

Daisy sat forward and faced Hiei to explain. "It's sort of like your first expression, like eggshells. When we're born, we come from an energy ball our mothers carry, and grow in the physical form. The ball then detaches from our mother's energy and it's the first thing we can manipulate. We keep them."

"Hn." Hiei grunted.

"Also it's very hard for us to trust other people with them, because they can sort of act like our security blanket, or our life-line. If we give them to someone, we're really putting a lot of faith in them."

"Like mine." Hiei nodded.

Daisy squinted and frowned, "Maybe. I'm not sure."

"Sounds like they act the same way. I like having them."

"It's more than just liking having it, or an emotional thing, it has to do with our mental stability quite literally," Kurama spoke up. "If we give our ball to someone, then they can control us, literally."

"I wouldn't give that to anyone." Hiei grunted.

"It's difficult," Kurama agreed.

"I don't expect you to give me your ball. In fact, I'd like it if you kept it because I have a tendency to store things away and not bring them to light for years." Asagi offered, "I'd love to see it though."

Kurama chuckled. "Maybe our honeymoon I'll let you see it."

"That protective Fox?" Hiei chuckled, "Where do you keep the damn thing?"

"They're formed by our energy, we keep them in our energy, and make them physical when we want to bring them out," Daisy explained.

"Oh."

"And yes, I am very protective of mine. Honestly I probably never would have admitted it existed," Kurama huffed.

Hiei chuckled, "I wanna see it too Fox."

Kurama stared at him critically.

"What? You've seen my equivalent, you own my equivalent."

Kurama frowned now. Eventually he sighed and stared at Daisy instead. "You pull yours out, I'll pull out mine?"

Daisy shrugged. She cupped her hands closed into a clam shell and then opened them to reveal a black pearl about the size of a marble that ate nearly all the light that touched it. It radiated her energy.

Kurama nodded and cupped his hands like he was scooping water, but a ball about the size of his head, sans hair, formed, which glowed with swirls of color mixed with red, silver, and purple dancing through it like it was filled with smoke.

Asagi whistled and leaned over to look at it, but kept her hands on the table.

Daisy offered hers to Hiei so he could look. Hiei leaned over and tipped his head.

"You can pick it up if you want, feel it."

Hiei shook his head, "That's alright."

"It's not fragile," Daisy bounced it on the table like a bouncy ball.

Hiei snatched it up before it could go far, "Seems fragile though."

"It's just energy." Daisy stole a bite from his plate.

Hiei looked it over for a moment before setting it delicately on the table beside her.

Daisy left it on the table as if she didn't care to hold it all the time. Really she was just trying to play it off as not a big deal. She didn't want Kurama to feel uncomfortable sharing his with Asagi. She hoped that Asagi would be allowed to touch it, and she knew having her's around would help Kurama settle down about his.

Sure enough, as Kurama watched Daisy's reaction to Hiei, he sat back a little, and watched Asagi a little easier.

"It's very beautiful." She offered.

"Do you want to touch it?" Kurama offered, holding it out to her.

Daisy smiled at the tentative tone in his voice. He was nervous about letting someone touch his ball.

Asagi smiled and gently rested her hand against it, "Oh, this is interesting."

As Kurama's eyes lit up and he felt more curious about Asagi handling it with her statement, the colors swirled around faster in the orb. "Mine's bouncy too," he commented, bouncing it on the floor. It came back up with a reliable bounce like a basket ball.

Asagi yelped a little, "Oh, it doesn't seem like something I'd like to bounce."

He laughed. "It was my play-toy as a child. Actually if we had children they would have them too."

"It seems so delicate the way you talk about it."

"It's," He sighed and held it gently in his grasp. "It's hard to explain. If you were holding this, and told me to do something, I would immediately assume that you were never going to give it back unless I did as you said."

"I feel bad for wanting to test that." Asagi murmured.

Kurama stiffened.

"Not like that, geez. I'm just curious how you'd react."

"Here," Daisy held out hers to her. "Tell me to get you a glass of water holding mine, you'll see."

Asagi took it from her, "Uh," She looked at Kurama, "Now I feel like the bad guy here."

Daisy chuckled. "Don't. I think it's important you understand. It'll show you the faith he has in you to pull it out."

"Get me a glass of water, please?"

Daisy stiffened and her eyes widened sharply. "Water?" she squeaked, and got up looking around. "Fresh water? What type of water? You'll give it back, right? You will?" Daisy asked hurriedly as she started searching for glasses.

"Nevermind, nevermind, here, take it."

Daisy swooped close to her and took it back with a hurried snatch, she cradled it close, swallowing a few times.

"That's scary."

Feeling a little calmer, Daisy laughed, "Well now you understand." Daisy grabbed her a glass of water.

"Don't give me your ball." Asagi said in a firmer voice towards Kurama.

"It would be a little different between us because I trust you to always give it back. Daisy doesn't trust you."

"Still. I don't want that power."

"You can still hold it though," Kurama sighed. "With our children, if we have children, it's something you would have to understand because one way to discipline them is to take their balls for a little while, it gets their undivided attention."

"I'd feel so terrible doing that."

Kurama shook his head, "It's not that bad actually. When it's your parent, you have a lot of faith in them, and you don't feel the panic Daisy showed you. You just know that you have to listen."

"Illusionists don't have anything similar, really. We have a different form, but I prefer this form. The other one is scarier." She chuckled.

"I'd like to see that," Kurama put his ball away, squishing it between his hands collapsing it in on itself until it was gone.

"It's not very pleasant. We don't like to show outsiders."

"Well please, by all means, don't show me," Daisy laughed, holding up her hands. She had her ball in one as she held it up.

"We sort of turn into a bit of a monstrous beast that's just, foul. It's rare any illusionist does it though. It's unpleasant for us to experience."

"I see. Perhaps you could draw it for me sometime?"

Daisy slipped her ball away too.

"I could do that. In our home village we must turn into it at least once so we understand it, but, after that, most people don't like it." She scrunched up her nose.

"We should get to work." Kurama stood and held out a hand to her, smiling.

Asagi sighed and got up, taking his hand, "Yes, work."

Daisy watched Hiei for a cue about what they should do.

"Is she stable for Demon World, Fox?"

"Not yet. Give it another day or so I think. Her energy is still unstable. You might want to get her drunk again while we're gone."

"Can we stay here?"

Kurama nodded. "Of course."

"Let's get out the alcohol." Hiei got up.

Daisy groaned but once Kurama and Asagi were out of the room, she conceded to following Hiei about the kitchen to find some good alcohol. Once they were sure they were gone, Hiei popped a bottle open and poured her a glass. Daisy sipped it leaning against the counter, staring at him.

Hiei took a spot on the counter. He watched her back.

"That went better than yesterday."

"Yes." He agreed.

"So what do you want to do today?"

"Watch you get drunk?"

Daisy sighed, "I can't see how that will help."

"Or, kiss. Snuggle?"

"That sounds better."

He chuckled.

"Let's go out to the living room?"

He nodded and led her into the living room.

"So, anything in particular today?"

"Nope."

Daisy sighed. "Okay. Just drinkin' then." Daisy sipped her drink, sitting down on one of the couches.

"Kissing, snuggling," He offered.

"Right, those are very important."

"Right."

"So," Daisy drank again.

Hiei shrugged.

"Tell me something." Daisy sipped on her cup again, setting it aside.

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

Hiei waited.

"Tell me about how you got caught?"

"I was being an idiot."

"How so?"

"I thought my captors needed help, like they were humans."

"Your captors? You mean the guards? You thought the guards needed help?"

He nodded.

She chuckled. "I see."

He rolled his eyes.

"So, what's the deal with you and Kurama?"

"He's my partner."

"But aside from that."

Hiei frowned, "Aside from that?"

"Like, you have a crush on him don't you?"

"No?"

"Why not?"

"I mean, I like the Fox, but he has Asagi, and I don't want to ruin that."

"So you do have a crush on him?"

"Maybe? I don't know."

"Well tell me what you like about him anyways."

"He's, the Fox." Hiei shrugged.

"What does that mean for you?"

"He's, just, the Fox. He's there if you need him and when he's there he's, present. He's fun to be around when he's playful and he's a good ally. He's strong."

"When did you first begin to appreciate him?"

"Hn, the Dark Tournament."

"What happened?"

"The dragon burned my arm. I was unable to use it, I had to partly rely on Kurama."

"What did you rely on him for?"

"To keep me from getting killed."

"Oh!" Daisy sat up and stared at him curiously, "Why were you almost killed?"

"The arm my dragon is on is also the arm I use with my sword."

"Hiei, tell me why and how you were almost killed in more than three sentences."

Hiei sighed, "Kurama and I went out wandering around. We got attacked by a giant robot and my arm was basically unusable so I wasn't on my game, nearly crushed me against a tree. Kurama saved me."

"That's only three sentences. How did it make you feel when Kurama saved you?"

"Grateful?"

"Why?"

"I could have died?"

Daisy waited, curious if that was true or not.

Hiei watched her.

"Why do you question that?"

Hiei grunted.

Daisy chuckled. "Well I think you like him because he's alluring and he's mysterious."

Hiei rolled his eyes.

"No, seriously! I don't think you're one who can easily keep secrets about himself. I mean, yes, the big secrets, sure, but you're brash, in a lot of ways, and you're not often someone who would keep their opinions to themselves. You're vocal in that way, and Kurama's not. He's quiet, reserved, and that makes his thoughts a mystery. His expressions are well-trained to reveal nothing. Yours make you more like a book."

Hiei grunted again.

Daisy sighed and finished her drink. Hiei sighed too and leaned his head back against the couch, closing his eyes.

"What are you thinking about?"

Hiei shrugged, "Going back to Mukuro."

"Tell me about Mukuro."

"Mukuro? Well, she's my boss, I guess. We're partners to a point, I do the patrol and report back to her and we keep each other entertained."

"That's not really telling me much about her," Daisy chuckled.

"She's like any other Lord. Demanding, loud, strong. She's a strong woman."

"Do you know what type of demon she is?"

"I don't know." Hiei waved her off.

"How did you meet her?"

"She invited me to work for her."

"Well that's very simple. Do explain."

Hiei grunted again, "She just, invited me. Stuck me in her pit and I had to fight off demons to prove my worth."

"Oh, was that fun?"

"It was exhausting."

"What happened after you proved yourself worthy?"

"She made me fight against the man who gave me my Jagan. I fought him in such a way we'd both die, and we kind of both did for a little while."

"How did you live?"

"She put us in her tanks. I chopped off my arm and nearly got sliced through the middle. I chopped off the top part of his skull."

"Oh, and you both lived?"

"Yes."

Daisy sighed heavily. It felt like she was pulling teeth to get him to say anything. She drank her new cup and sat back to stare at the wall. If he didn't want to talk to her, then fine. She wouldn't try to egg him into conversation.

Hiei grunted, "She wouldn't let me die." He sighed, "I tried killing myself a couple of times with her 'aid', but she always figured it out."

"I'll have to thank her."

He glanced at her and sighed.

Daisy glanced back, and sipped on her drink again. "Maybe you should get drunk with me."

"Maybe." Hiei shrugged and brought his legs up onto the couch, "Maybe."

"I think you should."

Hiei chuckled, "Why?"

"You'd stop giving me the silence treatment."

"I'm quite." Hiei shrugged, "I'm just thinking." He got up after a minute and came back with a bottle of beer.

Daisy swirled her alcohol around in her cup, watching him.

Hiei sipped it once he was seated again, "Did you ever decide if you wanted kids?"

"Oh, um, no. I haven't decided if I want kids. Do you want kids?"

He shrugged, "I don't exactly want to spread my line."

"Why not?"

"Koorime-Fire demon? I don't want them getting captured."

"Oh, that's no reason not to have kids," Daisy waved him off. "There are reasons that are acceptable, but to spare a child from living a particular life is not one of them. The only consideration you have to make when it comes to having children or not is whether you want to put the time and energy into getting them into this world, and prepared to conquer it. Otherwise, it's up to them to worry about themselves."

"I don't want them to have my upbringing or your upbringing."

"My upbringing?" Daisy frowned. What did he think she was raised like? She had been raised by her father, but he did it like she was a princess. She thought she had told him that.

"Or, at least, not your 'upbringing', more like, this slave stuff."

"Well, like I said, you can't not have children to avoid something. It's a silly concept."

He grunted.

"They will live whatever life they're given"

Hiei sighed, "I just want them to be loved."

"And they would be if we gave them love."

Hiei took a longer sip and leaned back against the couch, "Mm."

"You know, if the parasite is still alive, and I have to get drunk again, I'm going to be tipsy all day."

He sighed and shifted to lounge on his side, his head near her, "That's fine."

"I want a story." Daisy requested softly.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, just talk to me. I don't want to sit here quietly forever." Daisy stared into her cup, trying to imagine that the parasite was getting too drunk to function, and dying out from the alcohol burning up her blood. It didn't seem right, but maybe the fox knew what he was talking about. Then again, he probably hated her.

Hiei sighed and shifted so his head was resting against her thigh, legs up against the arm of the couch, "Well, we don't have to just sit here."

"No? What're we going to do then?"

"You can pet my hair."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Daisy snuck closer and obliged him.

He nodded and stretched, "Yes."

Daisy sighed and leaned back. She enjoyed having him this relaxed.

He looked up at her, "We could kiss?" He offered.

"I suppose, but you're not in much of a position to do that," Daisy commented staring down into his red eyes.

"You can lean down and kiss me."

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" He teased.

Daisy folded her feet on the coffee table, leaning back into the couch more. "What's your favorite color?"

"Blood."

"What's your favorite thing to learn?"

"The most effective way to kill my enemy. What's your favorite color?"

"Oh, I'm starting to like ruby, bright ruby."

"Ruby?"

"Mmhmm," she traced her finger down the side of his face, staring into his eyes.

"What's your favorite thing to learn?"

"Histories."

He grunted and leaned against her hand.

"It helps me understand people, and help them."

"I can see that. Drink."

Daisy sighed and sipped again.

By the time Kurama and Asagi got home, they were both thoroughly drunk and Daisy was singing something in a weird language none of them had heard before.

Hiei grinned at Kurama and Asagi, "How was work?" He hiccupped a little and chuckled.

"Yeah, how was work?" Daisy leaned on him as they stood near the doorway to welcome the two of them.

"Work was good," Kurama nodded.

"Mmm," Hiei took a swig out of a bottle, "What's for dinner, Fox?"

"Yeah, what's for dinner, I'm parched," Daisy giggled.

Hiei chuckled and kissed her cheek.

Asagi chuckled too and made her way past them and into the kitchen.

"Ah! She's running away!" Daisy yelped and followed after her, using the wall for support.

Kurama chuckled. "You know, if you both got this drunk I must not have any alcohol left."

Hiei chuckled, "Sorry about that, I'll get you some more." He hiccuped.

"The alcohol would be too strong." Kurama patted Hiei's shoulder and followed Daisy and Asagi into the kitchen.

Asagi was looking about in the fridge.

"What's that?" Daisy asked pointing into the fridge.

"Uh," Asagi shifted something around, "Vegetables."

"What's that?" Daisy asked pointing somewhere else.

"Meat."

"What type?" Daisy licked her lips and swallowed.

"Chicken. Let me do the cooking."

"Mmm, cooking. I'd like to eat that. Are you going to make it?"

"Maybe."

"I want cooking."

"Go play with Hiei."

"But I want to snuggle," Daisy nearly cried.

"Then go and snuggle with Hiei."

"But you need snuggles Pretty Lady."

"I will not tell you again." Asagi shifted a few things around.

Daisy pouted and wandered away, sitting in the middle of the kitchen, pouting at the floor. When Asagi got up with some food and turned to face the rest of the kitchen, she sighed heavily and walked past Daisy without comment.

Daisy watched her go and as she tried to continue to see her face, fell over onto her side, she stretched out and stared at the ceiling. "You should try it sometime."

"What?"

"What?" Daisy asked curiously.

Asagi sighed.

"I like you Asagi."

"Mmhm."

"Can I tell you something?"

"What?"

"There used to be this blue bird that would visit the forest. I don't know how it got there, but it always came back. For months, and months, I tried to shoo it away, tell it that it wasn't safe, and send it on it's way, but it refused to go." Daisy sighed, "One day, the blue bird landed rather rough, and I came over to see what the matter was. It had a broken wing. I thought, Oh, well now it will be sure to die and then it will stop pestering me, but it lived the night. Another day passed and a demon came by, and I thought, Oh, well now the demon will eat the broken blue bird, but it didn't, it fixed it's wing, and went off. The squawks were horrendous, like listening to someone getting skinned. I was so upset by the noises, I thought for sure it would get killed by the demon rather than getting repaired, but the demon went off without killing the bird, and the bird hopped around feeling good. He tried to fly that night, but a broken wing doesn't take a night to heal, it takes much longer than that, and the bird re-broke his wing, unsetting it because he was caught in a wind that was a little too forceful." Daisy sighed. "I wonder what happened to it."

Asagi turned to look at her, "What was the point of that?"

"I like talking." Daisy yawned and kicked up her feet swinging them about in the air a little feeling gravity sway them back and forth.

"Go play with Hiei." She went back to preparing the food.

"I don't want to." Daisy clicked her feet together.

"Go and play with Hiei." Asagi repeated.

The kitchen door shut, but Daisy was too late to see who had been in it.

"Go on," Asagi was chopping something.

"I used to hate what I was," Daisy sighed.

"Daisy." Asagi snapped.

"What?"

"Get out of the kitchen."

"No," she replied lazily.

"I will drag you by your foot."

"You'll touch my foot?" Daisy wiggled it in the air.

"Daisy." This was a growl.

Daisy sat up and focused on her. "What's your favorite plate?"

"Favorite plate? Plate as in meal or plate as in object?"

"Plate as in dish."

"Dish? Is that meal then?"

"Yeah."

Asagi sighed, "Oh, I like, I don't know, a good juicy steak."

"Mm, steak. I like chicken."

"Uh huh, go play with Hiei."

"I don't want to play with Hiei. I don't like hurt people seeing."

"Go and play with Hiei."

"But I don't want Hiei, I want you. Hiei's hurt isn't hurting. I helped him."

"You're not helping me."

"I want to help you."

"You're not helping me."

"How can I help you?" Daisy popped up and stood at attention.

"By getting out of the kitchen."

"No. That won't help you."

"Yes, yes it will."

"Stop it!" Daisy threw her hands down at her sides and stomped angrily. "You're such a coward! I can't believe you just keep trying to throw me out rather than trying to help yourself!"

"Kurama!" Asagi called loudly.

Kurama poked his head into the kitchen.

"Can you get this child out of here?"

"Don't you dare!" Daisy yelled at him, snapping her teeth as she did.

Kurama stiffened. "Oh, I see."

"Please?"

"She's just trying to help Asagi. Why don't you take her up on it? You have a lot of old scars that you could be proud of, with a little help."

"She's acting like a child."

"Are you sure?"

Daisy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the both of them. "If you two don't stop this pointless prattle I will not be happy." Daisy strode over to the cabinet and poured a cup of alcohol, setting it by Asagi. "Loosen up."

Asagi took it and set it in the sink, going back to preparing their dinner.

"No." Daisy brought the cup back over.

"Daisy."

"You don't have to get her drunk." Kurama came in and stole the cup. "Calm down, both of you. If we're going to be living together, even for a little while, then you should try to get along."

"I can get along with her when she's not drunk."

"I'm sure you'll figure out how to get along with her while she is drunk too." Kurama left the room again.

"Kurama, I'm not putting up with this for long!" Asagi warned.

Daisy sighed and retreated to the table. She sat down at it and folded her arms under her head.

Asagi went back to preparing dinner.

Daisy watched her in silence, contemplating what would possibly help her.

Asagi got the food cooking quickly and leaned against the counter, watching it, silent.

"Why don't you like me?"

"You're annoying when you're drunk."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"There aren't many people who find me annoying when I'm drunk or otherwise."

"Hm."

"You don't trust me, do you?"

"No."

"No? Then what is it?"

Asagi shrugged.

"I want you to ask me a question."

"Will you leave the kitchen?"

"No. I want you to feel better."

Asagi flipped the chicken.

"Ask me a question."

"Will you leave the kitchen?"

"You know what I mean."

Asagi ignored her.

"If you're not comfortable talking about you, then talk to me."

Asagi remained silent.

Daisy sighed and bumped her head against the table repeatedly.

She heard Asagi getting their plates and utensils ready, but the woman was still quiet.

Daisy watched her quietly. "This is pathetic."

"Mmhm."

"Yeah, this is pathetic."

Asagi looked at her and huffed.

"Asagi, what're so afraid of?"

"Nothing really."

"What stops you from interacting with me?"

"You're acting like a child."

"You don't like children?"

Asagi didn't respond.

"So you do like children?"

Asagi sighed.

Daisy sighed back.

Asagi started plating up dinner.

"Asagi, tell me about children."

She ignored her.

Daisy sighed and banged her head against the table a few more times.

"Stop hurting yourself."

Daisy looked up at her. Her forehead hurt, but she didn't care so much about it.

"Thank you." Asagi set plates on the table, "Hiei! Kurama! Dinner!"

Daisy stared at the plate in front of her while Hiei and Kurama came in.

Hiei sat down beside Daisy and leaned over, kissing her on the cheek.

"How do you like Kurama?" Daisy asked Hiei tiredly.

"Hm? I like Kurama."

"I like Kurama too," Daisy yawned.

Kurama glanced between the two of them. "They're definitely drunk."

"Yes."

"Yes," Daisy agreed, and started to eat.

Hiei chuckled and joined in, eating.

"What're you eating?" Daisy asked leaning over to stare at his plate.

"Same thing you are."

"What is it?" she poked at his plate and took a bite, curious.

"Same thing you're eating." He stole a bite from her plate.

"What is it?" Daisy nibbled from her own plate.

Hiei shrugged.

"What is it?" Daisy asked Asagi.

"Chicken, vegetables."

"I like chicken." Daisy leaned on the table and poked at some of the vegetables, eating them.

Hiei leaned over and kissed her cheek again, "Why'd you leave me alone?"

"I want to help Asagi."

"Mm."

"What's Kurama need help with?"

"Nothing really. He's the Fox."

"What do you hurt about?" Daisy asked him tiredly.

Kurama sighed, "I see. You're just looking for a reason to poke aren't you?"

"She is."

"I'm not, he's hiding."

Asagi sighed.

"I'm not hiding anything of importance to you, I assure you." Kurama offered softly.

Hiei sighed, "Daisy."

"I miss you," Daisy yawned and finished off her plate, sitting back with the drink.

"I miss you too."

"What is wrong? There's something wrong."

"Hm?"

Daisy looked around at them and settled on looking at Asagi again. She sighed and wandered over to the sink, sipping on her drink. It was really hard to think straight.

Hiei got up and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close, "Mm, Daisy."

"No," Daisy pushed away from him and saw the door on the wall, she went to it, pulled it open, and stepped out into the air looking around. The sky was growing dim beyond the trees, and a breeze played with the canopy. It was nice to be outside. She had been inside for so long she could hardly remember what Demon World really looked like. Here, everything was different too.

"No?" Hiei stepped out with her.

Daisy looked at him quizzically, then back out at the green. "Is it safe?"

"Yes."

Daisy stepped out into the yard, toeing out of the slippers he'd put her in, and let her feet burrow in the grass. It was chilly on her skin, but also soft.

"Don't go too far."

Daisy crouched down and stared down at the grass by her feet, trying to figure out why it felt so soft.

Hiei followed her and sat down on it instead.

"I'm sorry Hiei." She felt bad for pushing him away after all that he had done for her.

"It's fine."

She ran her fingers through the grass, feeling a little foolish for being in awe of how green it was. She was so naive about this world, it was no wonder she sounded like a child to Asagi.

Hiei sighed and fell back onto the grass, "This is nice."

She couldn't agree. She felt sick to her stomach both with dread, nerves, and alcohol. "Yeah," she smiled it off. She needed to help Asagi, but Asagi wouldn't let her close. She had to walk away, to let Asagi make the next move, but Asagi probably wouldn't make a move.

Hiei sat up and came over to her, snuggling up to her side.

Daisy pulled away, standing back up from her crouch. He was pushing her over. She didn't want to sit on the grass. She stepped through it carefully on tip-toes and started noticing the bugs. They crawled all over the place. Grasshoppers jumped near her feet, gnats flew around in the air, and flies cleaned themselves and hovered about.

"Daisy?"

"What is it Hiei?" Daisy touched one of the trees softly, wondering if it would attack her for touching it. When it didn't strike out, she felt the bark, confused by it.

"Are you happy?"

"Why wouldn't I be happy?" she wanted to add a smile and a laugh, but she was too focused on the bark. It was rickety, like deeply cracked earth, parched and baked in the sun, but this was a tree. This wasn't made of dirt, this grew.

"I don't know."

"I'm happy," Daisy spun on her toes, folding her hands behind her back as her braid swished behind her back, she leaned forward and smiled, "I'm fine Hiei."

He nodded.

"Are you?"

"Yes."

"Why isn't Asagi?"

"I don't know."

"She doesn't like me acting drunk."

He shrugged.

"She doesn't talk about children."

"Maybe she has bad experiences with them."

"Maybe. Do you think discussing things helps you feel more comfortable with them?"

"Sometimes."

"Is there somewhere I could go with Asagi to observe children?"

"A park."

"What's that?"

"It's a place for humans to play games and what not."

"What games?"

"Human games, tag, stuff like that."

Daisy sighed and deflated. This was too complicated. "I'm going to go to bed." Daisy remarked, heading back for the house. She toed back into the slippers once she was at the door.

Hiei got up and followed her, "I'll come with."

Daisy came in and froze when she saw Kurama and Asagi tackling the dishes. "I should help with that." she wasn't sure how.

"It's fine." Asagi waved her off.

"But you two worked, and now you're cleaning after you cooked. You're doing too much."

"We're fine."

"We're used to it Daisy, it's alright."

"No! It's not alright!" Daisy shouted back at them. Her stomach rolled as she thought of all the demands she'd put on them, especially Asagi. She felt incredibly guilty doing everything she had. She went for the door again, stepping out of the slippers half-way there.

Hiei took her arm, "Daisy."

Daisy stared at him, stiff, her eyes wide.

"Daisy, come lay down with me."

"I don't want to lay down!" She yanked her arm free from him and fled out of the back door again. Once her feet hit the grass, she took off at a sprint trying to get her legs together again. Daisy continued running until she came out the other side of the forest into a small collection of houses, a little clutch on a street. She stepped onto the sea of black pavement in wonder. Never in all her years had she ever seen something so expansive and smooth. It defied being a rock. It had to be an illusion.

She soon found out Hiei was not far behind, and soon he was caught up to her, "Daisy,"

Daisy looked around at the houses, shocked. Everything was so well lit. There were little lights in their yard, and on the buildings, and the farther down the black she traveled, the more of it she found. She started running again, trying to find the other side.

"Daisy!" Hiei was after her, grabbing her hand, "This is the road, people drive on it."

"Drive?"

"They have vehicles that drive on this, they can be dangerous at high speeds."

"Like that bug Mukuro has? Is that why it's so big?"

"Smaller, slower, come on, this isn't safe." He tugged her to the grey rock.

"I want to find the other side." Daisy pointed back towards the road.

"Other side of what?"

"Why is it so long? How long is it? Where is the other side?"

"It goes on a long, long way. I don't think this one ends really, just a big, circle."

"The humans drew a black circle?"

"They made it. It's not exactly a circle, it's just connected to a bunch of other roads like this."

"I want to see it," Daisy pulled to get her hand free again, trying to twist it out of his grasp.

"Daisy, it goes on a long way. We can't see it all on foot. The human vehicles can hurt you." He squeezed her hand tight.

"No!" Daisy shouted and yanked her hand out of his, backing away from him, glaring. She held her hand, staring at him, feeling her fears beginning to subside.

"Daisy." Hiei whined.

"No." Daisy shook her head and backed up another step.

"Daisy, what's wrong?"

"I just explained this to you Hiei!"

"I didn't grab your wrist! I had your hand!"

"Because it's so different," she growled at him.

"It is! The wrist is the thing above the hand!" Hiei whined.

"You weren't letting me go! How is that any different?"

"Because it's dangerous Daisy!" Hiei shouted at her.

"Then grab my clothes not my body."

"Oh my god Daisy!" Hiei grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, "Come on!"

Daisy stumbled at the sudden motion and trod after him still fuming a bit. "Seriously Hiei I don't understand you sometimes! There's nothing dangerous there."

"There can be, take it from the person who lived in Human World for awhile!"

Daisy sighed heavily and stared out at the black pavement again, frustrated.

"It's not busy right now, but when it's busy it's dangerous, and sometimes people go too fast." Hiei offered.

Daisy turned back towards the house, but paused when it came into view, listless. She didn't want to be there. She wanted to explore, she needed to get away so she stopped hurting Asagi, and she didn't want to be trapped there all this time. What she really wanted to do was fly, but she still couldn't feel her wings.

Hiei continued to march towards the house.

Daisy was yanked after him again, but she didn't complain about it, she just followed along, trying to not feel awkward about having to bend over a little for his hand to comfortably be on her collar.

"You can run around all you want with me when you're not drunk, but we are both drunk."

Daisy wasn't sure she believed him about either of those points. She didn't feel drunk.

Hiei opened the door and led her in, closing it behind her, "Okay."

Daisy sighed and went for the stairs to go upstairs and lay down for a while. She saw Asagi and Kurama in the living room, and she didn't want to be with them. It hurt to be with them and watch Asagi suffer.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Daisy was only half paying attention all breakfast. She felt fuller than she had in a long time of both energy and food. It nearly felt like her stomach was going to burst and she'd barely had eggs and toast.

"We'll be meeting up around ten in the forest just south of Yusuke's house and then we'll start the exercises."

"Alright, but not forever Fox," Hiei agreed.

"Good. You and I both need to get some training under our belts before we get back into the full swing of things. After you were captured I really let myself slide because I kept searching for ways to find you in my spare time."

"And I need to get in shape so Mukuro doesn't actually hurt me."

"Exactly what I was thinking. Asagi do you want to join us? I'm sure you could use the workout too."

"Hm? Oh, I get my workout with you all the time," She waved him off.

"That's hardly an appropriate topic right now, and not the best for a full-body workout. It's more just the legs."

Asagi shook her head, "Not yesterday it wasn't." She shook her fork at him.

"I'm… Do you want to join us or not?"

Daisy stood and took her plate to the sink, brushing off the rest of her nibbled food into the trash. She rinsed off the plate, and soaped it up, trying to remember what clean plates actually felt like.

"Fine."

"Good! I'm glad you're coming. We'll leave here in about half an hour."

"Alright."

Daisy came back over to the table and sat down watching Hiei, her mind drifting. She barely registered Kurama saying her name until the second time, when Hiei looked up at her. "Do you want to come?"

"Come where?" Daisy asked, confused.

Hiei snickered for a moment, but bit his lip, "Training with us."

"Oh, I'm hardly ready for that. I'll go for a run though. Once I'm up to snuff with my endurance I'll start working on my own. I'm too far behind to train with anyone."

Hiei sighed, "Alright."

"Where can I go running?" Daisy asked, pasting on a smile for them. She directed her question to Hiei, remembering his anger at her for wandering off yesterday.

"In the forest."

"Alright." Daisy nodded and got up. "I think I'll get going then." She paused to take off the slippers, holding them in hand, "Don't worry, I'll stay out of sight." She announced for Hiei's benefit.

"Good. Flare your energy if you need help."

Daisy frowned. "Right." She watched him for a little while, trying to remember how to control her energy at all. She'd been stripped of it for so long that having it back again, even as it recuperate, felt like she suddenly had eyes again. Everything felt so close.

Hiei got up and came over to her slowly, crossing his arms behind his back, "Can I have a kiss?"

Daisy leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Asagi, if you don't want to go with us, you could go with her, let her back into the house when you come back." Kurama suggested.

Asagi grunted, "Maybe."

"How long will you be gone?" Kurama asked her.

She shrugged. "I guess that depends on how large the forest is, and how easy it is to find my way back," she joked, laughing.

Kurama turned to stare at Asagi pointedly.

"Hiei can always go with."

"No, no, it's alright, I guess I can just wait until you guys get back."

"Or come with us and run in the forest around where we're training," Kurama suggested.

Daisy considered that. She really didn't want to stop Hiei from interacting with his friends, and if this was going to put Asagi out, then she didn't want to do it either. The itching to get out and stretch would just have to wait. She nodded, put her slippers back on, and went back to her spot at the table, sitting back down.

"That'd probably be better." Hiei mused.

The half-hour wait passed quickly as she watched Kurama and Asagi clean the dishes off, and dry them, then put them away before they were heading for the front door. Daisy took off the slippers again, putting them aside, and stepped out, waiting for the others to join her.

Kurama stared at her, confused. "Where are your shoes?"

Daisy frowned. "Shoes? What? You mean like the boots Hiei has? Oh god, those wear through so fast I gave up with them years ago!" she laughed. It was a ridiculous concept to her, wearing shoes on all the rough rocks they always had. They ripped, or brittled and wore through way too quickly.

"You don't have any shoes?"

"I barely have an acceptable shirt under Hiei's cloak." Daisy chuckled.

"Her feet are so tough Fox, it hardly matters."

"It matters," Kurama countered. "Humans are uncomfortable with bare feet. We're going to be traveling through town. Plus, there are a lot of things you don't want to stick to or in your foot, like gum, nails, glass, and other pointy things."

Hiei sighed and put his foot beside hers, "Hn." Her foot was bigger than his by about an inch.

"Asagi, do you have a pair of sandals or something she can wear?"

"Somewhere." Asagi agreed, starting towards the closet.

Daisy sighed heavily and came back inside. Everything felt so surreal to her. In the labor camp, they weren't required to even wear clothes, it was a personal choice to request new garments when they got torn or too worn to cover you. Here, it was a requirement to even wear shoes, and you couldn't walk places that seemed perfectly suited to it.

Asagi handed her a pair of sandals, "Here."

Daisy wasn't sure at first how to put them on, but after Kurama explained it to her, she put them on only to find them a bit large on her. Once they were all dressed appropriately, they headed out together, only to go to weird metal things.

Hiei opened the car door and gestured inside at the awkward seat. Daisy stayed back, watching Kurama get in the front, trying to figure out how he did it, before she got in herself.

Hiei slid in beside her and closed the door, "See that strap there?" He pointed at the seat belt.

"Yes." She felt something poking at her butt, and sat forward on the seat to avoid it.

"Take it," He frowned, "Scoot over a little."

Daisy moved closer to him and reached for the belt.

"No, not two of us," He chuckled, "Watch." He swooped it across his chest and clicked it into a little box.

Daisy buckled the other seat-belt staying outside of it.

"No, go inside of it." Hiei shook his head.

Daisy tugged at it trying to figure out how to do that now after hooking the thing up.

Hiei undid his and leaned over her, helping her.

Once she was strapped in, under both Kurama and Hiei's supervision, Kurama started the car. The noise of it made Daisy jump and look around, her energy flaring naturally at her distress.

"It's alright, it's just the vehicle. It moves, you can hold my hand if you want." Hiei offered.

"What would holding your hand do?" Daisy cried, still looking for the noise.

"Help you feel grounded."

"We're going to move under the will of this machine. I'm telling it where to go with the steering wheel and pedals on the floor. One gives it energy, which makes it move either forward or backwards, and the other stops the wheels through pressure, slowing us down. The wheel," he tapped it, "turns the wheels so that we move in the direction I want."

"Why doesn't it run away from you? Why does it listen to you?"

"It isn't alive. The noise you're hearing is the engine, which is how it uses the energy, but it doesn't have a brain, and it doesn't reproduce, so it's not alive. It can't think."

"Oh." Daisy felt a little foolish now, but she couldn't help but also be incredibly curious.

"I'm going to go backwards now," He pulled on a stick, and looked around at the mirrors situated in his view.

"It feels a little weird, just try to relax." Hiei offered.

Kurama backed off, told her they were going to go forward, and proceeded on his merry way. As they moved over the black concrete, Daisy started to understand what Hiei had been talking about yesterday. He didn't want her struck by one of these things. Kurama explained traffic laws as they moved through the town, and when they saw more of the moving cars as they got deeper into the city, Daisy's wonder grew.

They pulled off the road into a little dirt side-road and traveled for a little while before stopping at a log in front of a path. There were two other vehicles parked there as well, both empty, and Kurama seemed content to see them, as he took note of them with Hiei, exchanging eager looks. They struck out on the path quickly, and Daisy was nearly out of breath by the time they turned off the trail and descended into the forest.

They made it to a large clearing where logs were rolled about to form a circle, and the damage inside was evident. Most of the grass was patchy at best, and discolored from young age. There were even burn patches leftover. Around the ring there were a few benches which had definitely seen better days, and a picnic table which was occupied by a group of human looking people, aside from one girl with teal hair.

"Kurama! Good of you to make it!" Yusuke stood up from the bench and waved with his whole arm as they broke into the clearing.

Hiei grinned, "Detective! Are you ready to get your ass handed to you?"

"Yeah right Pipsqueak!" The two of them bee-lined for the ring leaving Daisy alone with Asagi and Kurama. She watched as Kuwabara came over to them as well.

"So Kurama, how are you feeling? All your energy stuff still fine?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking." Kurama nodded and hugged the man before they headed for the picnic table of girls.

Daisy waited awkwardly, not sure what to do. The last time she had entered a new group like this, they'd left her chained to the wall and she was starting to feel unwelcome here too, or at least forgotten. Daisy sucked up her courage, put on her smile, and strode after Asagi and Kurama towards the rest of them.

"How are you guys?" Asagi offered as they approached.

"Good! Has he proposed yet?" A brunette asked. She had long brown hair and was about Asagi's height, but a little shorter.

"Daisy, this is Keiko, Yusuke's wife," Kuwabara introduced.

"No, he has not proposed yet. I'm still waiting." Asagi sighed.

"It's very nice to meet you," Daisy bowed deeply to her.

"Now that is how you show respect," A taller, larger brunette commented. Daisy looked up at her curious if she'd get another name. "Shizuru Kuwabara, that lump's big sister." She pointed her thumb at Kuwabara. Daisy repeated her greeting.

"And this lovely lady is Yukina, my wife." Kuwabara wrapped his arm around the obvious demon in the group.

Daisy caught her eyes for a moment, startled, but bowed and smiled all the same, repeating herself.

"Too bad Genkai couldn't make it. You could have met everyone if she had." Keiko commented softly. She sat back down at the picnic table, her back to the match going on.

"I'm sure Hiei and Daisy will have time to introduce Genkai to her before they leave for Demon World," Kurama sat on one of the benches, watching the match rather than at the picnic table.

"Probably." Asagi agreed. She stood, hands in her pockets as she watched the match and focused on the group, having moved to the far side of the picnic table to do both.

Kuwabara sat next to Kurama, while Shizuru sat with her back to Yukina, who settled down on the far side of the picnic table, and watched Keiko. They resumed their previous conversation like nothing happened.

"So are you joining in today Asagi?" Kuwabara asked.

Daisy looked around, seeing everyone occupied, and edged away from the picnic table, standing behind the benches, watching Hiei and Yusuke playfully spar. She couldn't keep up with a lot of Hiei's movements, and that mostly left them floating in air with blurry color between them until one of them kicked or spun, or they fell back to their feet and jumped off again.

"Maybe." Asagi shrugged.

"She's not a pushover. You should try her on for size Kuwabara, you might find her more than you could handle."

"Hah, I still am not fighting a woman Fox."

"Suit yourself. I suppose I'll just keep her to myself then."

Daisy looked around the clearing for an obvious trail-head curious if she could find somewhere to run out here or not. It would feel ridiculous to just go running in the circle they cleared out.

"I can always just spar with you," Asagi chuckled, "But it might end in something far from sparring."

"Sparring is different. I've been teaching Yukina how to defend herself recently."

"It's fun. I've enjoyed training with Kazuma," Yukina piped up.

Keiko had turned around by this point and watched the fight with the rest of them, but it was almost over. Their energy was building and they were starting to prepare for their final moves.

"I'm going to go running now," Daisy told Kurama softly, trying not to interrupt his conversation.

"Hm? Alright. Don't get lost." Kurama dismissed.

Daisy nodded, not that he could see, and broke for the edge of the forest, slipping out of sight. She heard the group cheering or jeering one another as their personal bet won or lost the match.

It took Daisy all of ten minutes jogging before she lost herself in the feeling of being free to go where she chose again, for the first time in a long time. She did her best to stay on a straight path, planning to just turn around and head straight back. After half an hour out, she paused to catch her breath, leaning on her knees and listening to the noisy forest. She sat, and meditated for a while, trying to figure out how to use her energy again, but after just a few minutes, got back up. She still didn't have enough energy to feel comfortable using it. She turned directly in reverse, and began to run back, faster than she had left, working her legs hard to improve her pace and endurance.

Two minutes into the return trip, she realized she hadn't heeded Kurama's warning well enough, and began to doubt whether she went around trees or not. She paused by a mossy rock and cursed, looking around for her footprints or somewhere that things were knocked through. Finally, when that was useless, she closed her eyes, and stretched into her energy, searching for the direction of the fight. Her energy wavered far too close to know much, and as she released it, it fell back to herself. She sighed, and continued running forward, trying to reassure herself that her plan of how to return was sound. She just had to go straight, that was it. Straight.

Three more minutes passed with her running, trying to reassure herself, but her gut was nagging her, and somehow it just felt like she was going the wrong direction. "I should have marked the trees or something," Daisy sighed, breathing heavily. She shook her head and kept running anyway, if she was too horribly lost for too long, Hiei would find her. She had faith in Hiei's ability even if she didn't have faith in her own.

She wasn't sure how long she ran before the doubt that she should have crossed the clearing already started eating away at her, and finally she stopped, and tried to force her energy into a spike, drawing up the fear that she was really lost, and that Hiei wouldn't be able to find her, flashing it out, but it felt weak, and useless. How could he possibly see that? She looked around for a tree to climb. The branches were all so high up though. She couldn't jump that high, she hadn't jumped in years, aside from trying to poke cloth into the muddy roof of their cave. She hadn't really jumped, that was more of a bounce. She walked on, trying to remain true and straight, looking for a tree she might be able to climb.

She found one after a short while and jumped up, grabbing the large thick nook of the tree with her hands, trying to push herself up, and use her feet to dig into the trunk. Her feet slipped out of the sandals, and they fell back to the forest floor, quickly followed by her as old leaves slipped under her hands, and she came crashing down on her back. This was not going well.

After getting her wind back, she took several steps back, and ran at the tree, jumping at the last moment, trying again, but this time she just came away with more dead leaves. It was too packed for her to get a hand-hold, and without a handhold, she couldn't get up.

"Daisy, what are you doing?"

Daisy turned and sat heavily on the ground dropping her head, feeling completely useless. He had approached her from behind. How had he been behind her? Why was the clearing that way? It was supposed to be in front of her. She felt like she was going to cry. She just wanted to do one thing, go for a run, that was it, and she couldn't even manage that. She couldn't leave the house without getting in trouble somehow, and she couldn't control herself. Everything just felt wrong. She squeezed her hands tightly around her ankles. She couldn't even use her energy right.

Hiei crouched down beside her, "Daisy?"

"I'm sorry, give me a minute. I was trying to get up in the tree to see if I could find the clearing." She took slow breaths, trying to stop herself from the scolding montage, but it wasn't really helping. She felt bad with or without the words screaming through her head.

Hiei waited, silent.

"I don't know how you do it Hiei. You're so comfortable here." Why would he put up with her? She couldn't even get people to like her. She felt so isolated.

He shrugged.

"Do you think, do you think Asagi hates me?" she'd been hated before, but it hadn't been recently. Everything just felt so raw. It felt like her chest was inside out and just being near people scratched it with nails.

"No. I think she's dealing with things and she's lashing out."

"Oh. I want to go back to the clearing, but I got lost. I couldn't find my way back. I tried to go out in a straight line, so I could come back by going straight back, but somehow I ended up over here." She stood and picked up the sandals. Her feet hurt between her toes from holding onto the thong.

Hiei looked up at her, silent, listening.

"Is it this way?" she asked, heading by him, back the way he came.

"Yeah."

Daisy offered her hand to him, "Let's go back. I'm sorry for calling you out here. Are you out here because I tried to call?" She was concerned he hadn't even felt it.

"I was worried, I came to see what was going on. I think I felt some of your energy, but it wasn't much."

"It's still building back up. I don't have much right now." Daisy pushed out what she had, trying to show him. She sighed once she let it go having to hold her breath just to do that much.

Hiei nodded, "I can help you with that." He took her hand gently.

Daisy held his hand back and sighed. It helped to have him. "I'm sorry Hiei. I just haven't been in the world in so long I'm having a hard time adjusting."

"It's alright. I'm here."

"Thank you," she smiled and continued back along the direction Hiei had come from. He had to correct her direction a few times, but they soon broke through the clearing side, and Daisy realized it really was impossible to see in it without being right on top of it. Getting back would have been hard no matter what.

The group was laughing about something while Kuwabara and Kurama fought in the ring. Yusuke stood at the grill talking to the others, and they were all pulled up close enough to be in the conversation together, watching the match, which was more of a whipping for Kuwabara than a fight.

As they got closer, Daisy realized that Yusuke was saying girly things whenever Kuwabara would make an offensive and manly deep things any time Kurama would respond to the attacks. He was doing a voice over of their fight.

Hiei led her over to the grill and settled near Yusuke, but he stayed quiet.

Asagi was actually smiling and laughing, "Yusuke, you're terrible." She kept scolding.

"Oh please, don't do this honey, I swear I won't leave the plants unwatered again!" Yusuke peeped as Kuwabara attacked.

"Hah! You said that last time you filthy wench!" Kurama was quick to slap him down.

Asagi leaned against Shizuru, laughing loudly.

"I toss you!" Yusuke announced when Kurama got a good hook in Kuwabara and sent him spinning through the air.

Yukina shifted to come over and stand beside Daisy, "Hello, how was your run?"

Daisy smiled, folding her arms over her chest. "It was good." she set the sandals down by her feet and stepped back into them again, going around the bench Hiei sat on, to stand behind it. "Have you gone out yet?" She asked quietly.

"Hm? Oh, no, not into the ring." She shook her head.

She could see Hiei stiffen up in his spot, but he didn't comment.

"Are you going to?"

"Maybe."

Daisy chuckled, "You sound like Asagi," she said quietly, playing timid. She dropped her chin and just glanced up at the woman, avoiding direct eye contact.

"I'll see how I feel." She offered, smiling.

"Oh, okay."

"Are you dating Hiei?"

"Um," Daisy frowned. "We're bed mates." she frowned again and stood up. "Actually I suppose we're not any more, are we? We don't have beds like that." What was she to Hiei now? That was confusing enough to make her feel slightly panicked. Then again, what was dating? She couldn't put dates on Hiei, and make him a calendar. What did Yukina mean? She remembered some of the members of her group talking about dating, but she'd always just explained bed mates with them and they dropped the term.

Hiei shifted, and glanced back at her, but when he spotted Yukina, quickly looked back at the match, "Um. I'd say we're… sort of dating. We like each other."

Daisy nodded. "Yes, we like each other, and we kiss on the lips." She nodded quickly. That was very true.

Hiei stiffened again. "Well we do," Daisy defended. Hiei glanced at her with wide, pleading eyes.

Daisy flushed and sighed, "Oh, this is just awkward. I'm sorry, Yukina? Was it? We haven't talked about it."

"Yes, Yukina." She nodded, "That's alright, but he seems happy with you near."

"I feel more comfortable with him close too." Daisy smiled warmly and leaned on the bench's back, "He rescued me."

"Oh! Hiei helped rescue me a couple of times too. He seems to have a knack for it."

Daisy laughed and smiled, but suddenly she didn't feel so special anymore. If Hiei rescued this other girl too,then maybe it was just a thing he did. Maybe, even if they hadn't been bed mates, he would have come back because that was just the type of person he was. If that was the case, it didn't mean as much as she thought it meant. She felt foolish, but she kept it to herself.

Hiei shifted to look at her, watching her face, quiet.

Daisy smiled for him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders leaning their heads together. "He's a wonderful man."

"He is."

Kuwabara was officially out of the circle and Yusuke started goading Kurama into fighting him.

Daisy stood back up, her hands on the bench behind his shoulders, watching Kurama, who wasn't easy to goad.

Hiei took one of her arms gently in hand and brought it over his shoulder, nuzzling against it. Daisy leaned back down and wrapped her arms around him again, nuzzling him back.

Yukina giggled, "Aw." She cooed.

"Aw," Kuwabara echoed coming over to her. "Yukina, I have a boo-boo," he pointed at his bleeding cuts and pouted.

Yukina quickly tended to him, healing the cuts. Once she was finished healing him, he scooped her up in a hug and swung her about happily. He kissed her firmly on the cheek, and retreated to the grill by Hiei's side.

"Isn't this wonderful Baby? Hiei's finally got a girl, so now we're all happily ever after."

"I still have to find my brother."

"Yeah, but with Hiei back, he can start searching Demon World again, and we keep making inquisitions here for anyone who might be a boy Koorime, so he's bound to turn up."

"I've already told you he's dead." Hiei shook his head.

"If he was dead I would know it." Yukina refused, crossing her arms over her chest.

"He's dead." Hiei stated a little firmer.

"No, he's not."

"Come on Hiei, until you give us a name and someone to interview, we're not going to believe that. What I don't get is why you keep trying to keep him from her though. I mean, it's her brother. She just wants to meet him."

"He's dead, that's why."

"How do you know?" Yukina demanded, hands on her hips.

"Just trust me."

"I can't! Not when you're lying to me."

"What makes you think he's lying?" Daisy asked.

"Because I know he's alive. I can feel it." Yukina cupped her hands to her chest like she was cradling something.

"Well I'm telling you, again, he's dead."

"And I'm still telling you he's not, so help me find him."

"It's useless Yukina."

"If he was dead then I would know."

"You should believe the man with the Jagan." Hiei scolded.

"Maybe he just can't see him because he's not looking."

"I can see perfectly well that he's dead!"

"You would have to know who he was in order to search for him with that Jagan. You would have had to felt his energy before, or know how to recognize it."

"He's dead. He can't be your brother. Stop looking for him."

"Hiei," Yukina sat beside him, "Please, I just want his name."

"I never got his name."

"So what am I supposed to tell my daughter? Or my son? Oh yes, you had an uncle once but the only name I ever knew him by was Imiko? Forbidden child? I won't do it! I need a name Hiei."

Hiei swallowed a few times and looked away. He was trying to hide a grimace.

Daisy sighed and gave him a little squeeze, "Yukina, why are you so determined to know him?"

Yukina sighed, "I just, I want to know that I'm not alone."

"Call him Nanashi, it's better than no name." Hiei offered.

"Nanashi means no name."

"It sounds better."

"In what sense, Yukina? How are you alone?" Daisy pushed.

"Well, it's like, if he's dead then I'm the only one of my kind. When I was little, I had powers that made all of the villagers fear me, but they trusted me to control them, and I did. I didn't understand it at the time, but once I learned that I had a brother, I started to understand what had been going on, why they hated me."

Hiei shifted to look at her, "What kind of powers?"

"I, never really explored them, to be honest. I put them away, and I don't touch them. I'm afraid to."

Hiei leaned forward and rubbed his face, "But Koorime women have a daughter who's a copy, you can't have a father Yukina."

"I'm not a copy. My mother was at least twice my height, and she had a longer face than I do. I don't look exactly like my mother."

"Yukina, it doesn't work like that." Hiei sighed, "Your whatever would've probably been fertilized already."

Yukina shook her head, "No, I'm not." She dug in her kimono and pulled out a little locket, popping it open, showing Hiei a picture of Yukina when she was about three, next to a tall, gorgeous woman with long hair, and a soft smile on her lean face. "Mother was about Shizuru's height. I'm never going to get that tall."

Hiei scoffed, "You're not one hundred yet."

"Koorime grow into maturity like humans, it only takes until we are about twenty five."

"If you're something else, it might take longer." He pointed out.

"But if I'm something else, then I'm not just a Koorime, and that proves my point."

"You have a brother." Hiei nodded, "A dead, brother. He's dead."

"He's not."

"He is."

"How about we settle on partially dead? Can you both agree that without her brother in her life he's partially dead?" Daisy teased the two of them.

Hiei huffed, "Is that the only name they gave him? Imiko, forbidden child?" He nearly spat.

Yukina sighed and grimaced too, "I won't call that a name."

"Say it."

Yukina looked at him curiously, "Say what? Imiko?"

"You said it earlier, Imiko, I don't know why you're so afraid to say it."

"It's not a name. I'm not afraid to say it, I just don't like to. It's like saying human-lover, and I won't call him that to my children."

"Then just call him Brother."

"No, children need names Hiei. He has to be Uncle Something because they're going to have Uncle Yusuke and Uncle Kurama too."

Hiei huffed.

"They can't have an Uncle Brother after an Uncle Hiei, that just doesn't make sense."

"Hn." Hiei nodded.

"Maybe we can talk about something else for a while?" Daisy offered, glancing at Kuwabara hoping for some help. He just shrugged. Daisy didn't like the look on Hiei's face. He was not happy about talking to Yukina about her brother, and while Daisy had a feeling she knew why, that brother being right next to her, she wouldn't break that to them.

"They'll have to deal with an Uncle Brother."

"Oh yes, and then my daughter will have a brother brother and an uncle brother, that will be very clear to a one year old."

"Hiei, why don't you just give us a name?" Kuwabara complained. "She's been going on about this problem for nearly three years now and we've only been married for two. It's not like he has to interact with us or anything, we just want to know his name so that Yukina can tell our kids about him."

"I can't tell you his name."

"So he's not dead!" Yukina shouted, standing up.

Kurama and Yusuke came over to them as the others watched on as well.

Hiei settled a glare on the ground, "Hn."

"Leave him alone," Daisy snapped, coming around the bench to put herself between the two of them. "He doesn't need you yelling at him. If he can tell you then he will, but obviously he can't so let go!"

"This is my brother we're talking about! I deserve to know." The clearing got chilly.

Daisy stiffened and puffed herself up, "I won't let you hurt him."

Hiei flared his energy, competing with Yukina's chill.

"I don't want to hurt him, I just want answers!"

"Well you're not going to get them!"

"I won't tell you because he's not ready to be your brother."

"Hiei, I just want to know who he is, that's it, is that so hard?" Yukina tried to move around Daisy to see him.

Daisy stood between them again, and held out her hand, glaring at the woman. "Stop it. He doesn't want to share, so don't make him. If you were really his friend then you wouldn't be pushing him for information he can't give you!"

"He told me not to tell you."

"This isn't the way to treat your friends, even if they are keeping secrets from you!"

Yukina backed off a step, staring at Daisy. "How dare you!" Yukina barked back. "Who are you to come in here and say I am no friend? These people around you aren't your friends, they're mine!"

"Girls, please," Kurama stepped up to them on the left while Kuwabara came up on the right. "Do we really have to fight about this?"

Daisy waited, glaring at Yukina firmly.

Hiei sighed heavily.

"Come on Yukina, when Hiei wants to tell us, he will." Kuwabara put a soft hand on her shoulder. "He's our friend."

"I'm not sure I want a friend who refuses to tell me about my family. I came back here for one reason, one reason alone! I came back here to find my brother, and if Hiei is standing in the way of that, then so be it."

Daisy saw Hiei pale.

"You came back here to use Hiei to find your brother you selfish woman! I won't let you keep talking about him like he has no honor! He's not telling you because he cannot, not because he does not want to! He isn't telling you because he has a bond to this brother of yours that he cannot break! If you cannot respect that bond and back the fuck off then I will back you off!" Daisy snapped stepping forward to do just that. Kurama put a hand on her shoulder, to stop her from getting to Yukina, and she glared up at him furiously before turning her gaze back on Yukina again.

Shizuru whistled, "See? They're totally demons. They're both too blind and thick-headed to realize they're both making the situation worse. All they want is a fight." She was talking to Keiko and Asagi.

"Of course they're demons." Asagi scoffed.

"Then again, if it were humans in this situation, we'd just be giving one another cold shoulders and belittling compliments." Keiko advised.

Shizuru nodded, chuckling.

"Why don't you two just let them go at it?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama sighed, "Because, Yusuke. Because."

"It's not our place to get in the way of their fight. They want to fight over who gets rights to talk to Hiei, let 'em. I mean, come on guys, we fight over the stupidest god damn things. Remember last year? We waged a whole fucking war over who got the last smoked chicken wing, and Shizuru ate it because we were fighting so long."

"No, Yusuke, I won't let my wife get into a fight over something like this. It's stupid, and once they calm down they're realize it."

Daisy wasn't calming down. She knew what she was doing was upsetting Hiei, but she wouldn't let Yukina continue to hurt him. It was better her, some, unattached woman who he could drop like a rock in the ocean, than his sister. Yukina was hurting him out of ignorance, and that was always the worst sort of pain to endure.

Kurama's grip faltered for a second, and Daisy lurched forward. Before either of them really knew what was happening, they were exchanging blows, but being that neither one of them was a great fighter, or anyone with enough energy to do much damage, they weren't getting very far.

Hiei was up and shoving them away from each other quickly, "Knock it off!" He shouted at them both.

Daisy growled in anger, giving a final glare at Yukina before turning away to pace, and let Hiei deal with Yukina himself.

Yukina, for her part, was working on gathering her energy and cooling the clearing off more, trying to fight Hiei's heat.

"Yukina." Hiei raised his energy further.

"I just want to know who my brother is Hiei! You've known for months now, haven't you? That's why you protect me? You've known him since the Dark Tournament, when I asked you about him and you won't tell me!"

Daisy stopped in her pacing to glare at Yukina again, angry about her continued assault.

"Honey, calm down, please," Kuwabara came up behind her and took her arms.

"When you calm down, I'll tell you who he is."

"Hiei you can't just let her pressure you into this! That's not fair! She doesn't deserve to know if she's going to find out this way!" Daisy shouted at him.

Hiei ignored her in favor of sitting down.

Daisy huffed, annoyed and turned away from the whole group of them. She folded her arms over her chest.

"It's time she found out anyway, I've known for a long time who her brother is."

"Really?" Kuwabara asked, surprised.

"Yes." Hiei nodded.

Daisy sighed and shook her head. "I'm going for walk. I need to blow off some of this steam." She didn't think any of them would care to listen to her, but she wanted to tell them anyway.

"Stay. I need you." Hiei requested.

"Come on, I'll spar with you," Yusuke offered. "It's going to take some time before Yukina calms down."

Daisy sighed and nodded, following him out to the ring. When they got there, he attacked, but she wouldn't call it sparring. It was more like she got her ass handed to her until she found it hard to move about. She was starting to feel more of her energy, but it was no match for him, and it was still very weak. She couldn't even summon an attack or a weapon.

She came limping back over to the group leaning against Yusuke when he was done handing her ass to her on a silver platter, and Daisy could see that Yukina was starting to calm down by the state of Kurama. He'd been healed, and when they left the ring, Yukina came over towards them.

"Yusuke are you hurt?"

"Nah. She's a featherweight," he laughed and rubbed his neck.

Yukina turned away from them at that and Daisy knew the slight she was receiving.

"Heal Daisy or I won't tell you." Hiei grunted.

"If you want Daisy healed then do it yourself," Yukina snapped back.

"Yukina." Hiei said in a firmer voice.

"It's my choice who I offer my healing arts to and I don't like her."

"I love her. Please heal her."

Daisy could see Yukina wasn't very convinced. She was still holding a grudge against Hiei for withholding the information. She sighed when Yusuke brought her up to the bench, and sat down on it heavily, "It's alright Hiei, you don't need to start a new fight with her. I'll heal just fine. Yusuke was gentle. It's just some bruises." She didn't want to accept the slight, but she knew she had made an enemy of Yukina, and that wasn't going to be easy to repair, if she even had to.

Hiei sighed and lowered his head down, resting his chin in his hand, closing his eyes.

Food started coming off the grill, getting plated and put on the picnic table for everyone to serve themselves from. There was enough room around the table for all of them to collect up, but Daisy didn't feel like going over, so she just lay her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying the sun. Hiei didn't go to get food either, he stayed in his spot.

Kurama came over with a couple of plates for them after noticing their isolation, and brought over his own plate, sitting down by Daisy's other side. She sat forward and smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate your consideration."

"Hiei's my friend, and even if the person he loves is a nosy spirit hawk, I respect his choice."

Hiei grunted and took his plate, nibbling at it.

Daisy started eating after he did. She folded up her legs enough to cradle the plate, and watched the forest on the far side beyond the ring.

"You know, Hiei, I support you no matter what your choice is here today. This is your choice to make," Kurama whispered quietly.

"Thanks Fox." Hiei reached out for him.

"Well you know how I've handled it, and frankly I'm really concerned about getting married because what if we actually end up having kids?" He sighed heavily and sat back, picking at his food. "I mean, what would I tell Mother?"

"You'd probably have to tell her the truth Fox."

"Yeah, and that's a terrifying idea. Just, go up to her and say 'hey Mom, I'm not the boy you think I am. Oh, and that lovely wife I have? Yeah, she's not the woman you think she is either. In fact, your grandchildren are literally going to be demons.'"

"Maybe you should introduce Asagi as a demon first."

"No, I couldn't do that to her. Mother loves me. If she's going to accept anyone as a demon, it's going to be me."

"Or me." Hiei offered.

Kurama shook his head. "I won't take that from you."

"Doesn't bug me Fox, I'm sure she already knows."

"You know your lies are really transparent to me Hiei. It would bother you if Shiori rejected you, or freaked out about what you are."

Hiei grunted.

"And then she'd go asking questions. Oh, so you're really not an orphan? How do demons have orphans? What happened to your parents?" Kurama shook his head. "No, I won't do that to you."

Daisy shifted, and winced when her side stretched a little awkwardly.

Kurama watched her. "I'll wrap you up when we get home."

"You think she's calm enough?"

"Do you think she'll ever be calm enough? You're going to be diving into the same deep-end no matter how long you wait Hiei."

"I know."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Maybe."

Kurama finished off his plate and sat back, setting the dish aside on the bench. "You know, if everything goes to shit you can just run off and I'll take Daisy back home with me."

"Alright."

Daisy stared at him, confused. Why was he doing this? She was so confused by Kurama. He acted cordial and nice, but he also acted cold, and distant. She couldn't keep up with him.

Hiei shifted and set his plate aside, wiping his hands on his pants, watching Yukina.

"Why don't you go take her elsewhere, somewhere private where you can explain it to her?" Kurama suggested.

"No. I need you."

"You'll be alright. Just, stay in sight and we'll be right here."

"No Fox, I'd rather do it here."

Kurama nodded, "Alright."

Daisy got up to take the plates away. She'd nibbled on her's, but her jaw hurt from where Yusuke had socked her hard. He hadn't been going easy on her, and he knew it. He was expecting Yukina to heal her. Daisy left the plates with the other dirty plates that were collecting and came back to Hiei's side, sitting back down.

Hiei offered his hand to her.

Daisy took it and smiled, "It'll be alright."

"I hope so."

Yukina came over to them with Kuwabara on her tail. They weren't terribly far away, but the grill had begun to be a divider between the two halves of the group, and it continued to remain so. "Alright Hiei, what is it you know?"

Hiei reached into his shirt and pulled his two necklaces from hiding.

"Y-you mean you really do know him? Where did you find that?" She stepped forward to cradle the necklaces in her hands.

"It's, it's uh," Hiei swallowed, "It's mine."

"But where did you get it from?" Yukina asked, touching the two of them.

"Our mother."

Yukina jerked back and stared at him, eyes wide.

Hiei waited, squeezing Daisy's hand.

Daisy held his back just as firmly, waiting.

"You mean, wait, Hiei? What do you mean?"

"I'm your brother."

"You? You're my brother?" Yukina asked, cautious.

"Yes."

"When did you find out?"

"I've always known."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"No." He sighed.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared."

Yukina leaned against Kuwabara, staring at him. "Of what?"

"That you'd hate me."

Yukina sighed. "How could I hate you?"

"I don't know."

"Well I don't. I don't hate you Hiei. I never have."

He sighed in relief.

"You're really my brother?"

"Yes."

"But that means Daisy lied to me. It's not a bond with my brother that stopped you from telling me."

Hiei sighed, "Stop hating her."

"I wasn't lying." Daisy defended. "He didn't tell you because he had a bond to himself."

Yukina crossed her arms and stared at the woman disapprovingly.

"I love her. I love you both, stop fighting." Hiei barked.

Yukina sighed and held up her hands. "Fine. I suppose I can understand why you were upset with me now."

Daisy didn't offer any apologies for her efforts.

Hiei nodded, "Good."

"So, now that that's settled, how about you both talk to one another," Kurama suggested.

Daisy sighed, and felt like conceding, but Yukina didn't seem like she was ready for that. She was staring at her apprehensively.

Hiei sighed and let go of Daisy's hand to stand and pull Yukina close, resting his head on her shoulder.

Yukina hugged him back.

"Do you want your gem back? I've become a little attached to it." Hiei leaned back to look at her.

"If you don't mind. Can you really tell them apart?"

"Yes." He took one off and reluctantly handed it back, "It's in better shape than mine."

"How did you keep me from seeing it for all these years? You don't often fight with your shirt on."

"I'd hide it different places." He shrugged, "Sometimes Kurama or Mukuro held onto them for me."

"Oh."

"I lost mine a long time ago, but Mukuro gave it back to me. She found it when I'd lost it in a fight."

"You'll have to tell me about that."

"It was a foolish time of my life." Hiei shook his head, "I visited the isles once. Mother was dead."

Yukina dropped her eyes and reached for his hands. "Mother wanted me to tell you something."

"Hm?"

"Rui gave me a note from her when she told me about you. I'll have to dig it out at home."

Hiei nodded.

"She loved you Hiei. She really did."

Hiei sighed.

Daisy leaned back on the bench and yawned. "Can we go home now?" she asked Kurama quietly.

"Hold on," Hiei grunted, "How old are we Yukina?"

"We're turning ninety seven this year."

"Three years." Hiei sighed.

Yukina nodded. "And I am having a child with Kuwabara. You can't stop me from that. I want to have a real family with him."

"Fine, but if he hurts you I am going to stab him through."

"I'm glad to see nothing has changed." Kuwabara chuckled.

Hiei glared at him, "And if you hurt her children or force yourself on her I'm going to consider stabbing your neck."

"Hey! She's my wife! I'm not going to do anything to hurt her!"

Hiei snarled at him like a dog for a moment and went back to looking at Yukina, "You'll tell me if he hurts you?"

"If it makes you feel better."

"Yes."

She sighed and nodded. "Fine, I will."

He nodded and leaned forward, kissing her forehead, "Good."

Yukina giggled and pulled him into another hug. "I can't believe it. You're really my brother?"

"Yes." He squeezed her tight.

"You'll visit me more now, won't you?" Yukina requested.

"We'll see. Mukuro is going to be on my ass for being gone so long."

"She can't blame you. You're recovering from being kidnapped."

"She'll find a way."

Daisy yawned, trying to suppress it as best she could. Hiei seemed content. "Maybe we can just pretend he ran off and leave him with her?" she whispered to Kurama as quietly as she could.

Kurama leaned in close and whispered back, "He'd never forgive us for abandoning him like that."

She sighed and nodded. He was right.

Hiei sighed, "Do you have fire powers?"

"I don't know."

"Hn. I can control my temperature pretty well."

"Me too."

He smiled, "Are you happy, Sister?"

Yukina nodded. "Yeah, I'm happy. Are you happy?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad you're happy Hiei. Why don't you come over tomorrow and I'll give you that letter?"

"Alright."

"Who's up for another round?" Yusuke was up and ready to go again.

"He's exhausting," Daisy told Kurama pointedly, her voice loud enough for Yusuke to hear. He laughed.

"You want another round Daisy?" Yusuke was bouncing back and forth between his toes.

"I might have to disagree with that." Hiei snipped.

"Oh yeah? How about it pip-squeak, you really want to go again?"

"No." Hiei shook his head, "Beat up the Oaf."

"Asagi, do you want some practice?" Kurama stood and held out his hand to the woman.

"Sure."

Daisy settled back on the bench, folding her legs up under herself, lounging on the back watching the group. Asagi and Kurama went off to the side to practice while Kuwabara and Yusuke went to the ring.

"Come sit with us Hiei," Yukina suggested, gesturing towards the other women.

"Fine." Hiei sighed and followed her.

Daisy fell asleep in the warmth of the sun, and didn't wake up until the sun was hidden behind the trees. She yawned and stretched out, looking around for the others.

Hiei was settled at Yukina's side. Kurama and Asagi had found a spot in some grass to sit, and Kuwabara and Yusuke were poking fun at the little fire demon and the Fox.

Daisy stood and stretched her legs. She still felt like she was hurting, but after the time she spent napping, it wasn't so bad.

Hiei smiled at her and waved her over. She wasn't reluctant to approach him, but the other girls made her uncomfortable. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, and Yukina probably would always hold something of a grudge against her.

Pushing that aside, she came over with a warm smile on her face.

Hiei opened his arms for her, "Daisy."

She sat by him and leaned into his embrace, "Mm, Hiei."

"See? You're totally soft for her."

"Hn."

"She makes you want to go all goo-goo eyes."

"Hn." He squeezed her tight.

"Awww," the boys teased, laughing.

Daisy leaned up and kissed Hiei firmly on the lips, trying to entice his mind away from them and onto her. She wanted to make them jealous, and the best way to do that would be to pamper the hell out of Hiei.

Hiei moaned in delight and kissed her back, squeezing her tighter. Her arms and sides hurt a bit from the squeezing, but she didn't let it show. Instead, she deepened the kiss, enticing Hiei's tongue from his lips, and letting him taste her as she did the same, locking their lips together. It worked quickly with Hiei pressing his tongue against her lips, scooting closer.

"Aw come on! We were just teasing," Yusuke complained.

Daisy pulled back a little and wrapped her arms loosely around Hiei's waist, staring up at him. "What ever are you talking about?" she asked as innocently as she could while laying against Hiei's chest.

"Mm, why'd you stop?" Hiei huffed.

"I had to ask your detective something."

Keiko chuckled. "Serves you two right teasing him like that. I think they're cute together."

"She seems a bit low-energy for him though," Shizuru commented, earning a look of curiosity from Daisy.

"Hn." Hiei grunted and rubbed his hands along her sides.

Daisy yawned the sleep out of her head and tossed a leg over his lap to get a little more comfortable. Hiei rested his head against her and sighed in delight.

Kurama came over to them. "Are you two ready to go home?"

"Aw, already?" Kuwabara complained.

"Hey, we can stay longer. The fox probably just wants to get back to his plants or something."

"I am." Hiei nodded.

Daisy stood with a bit of effort untangling herself from Hiei's close proximity and smiled. "Anything you say Oh Master of the Keys."

Asagi chuckled, "Come on."

Daisy and Hiei followed them out of the clearing and back through the woods.


	8. Chapter 8

It was few days later when Hiei decided not to go for a run with her and instead train, that meant an argument broke out in the living room.

"Kurama, come on." Asagi sighed. Hiei was settled up on a windowsill with hot chocolate, watching.

"No, someone has to go with her. You know how horrible she is about finding her way anywhere, and she still isn't used to people, but she keeps ending up on the streets. How close did she actually get to finding her way home last time Hiei?" Kurama asked him.

"Not close."

"I should be insulted." Daisy was fussing with her shoes, trying to remember how to tie them right.

Hiei chuckled, "Maybe."

"Yeah, maybe."

"But what direction was she going? She was on the roads, right?"

Hiei nodded begrudgingly. "She was heading the opposite direction she needed to go."

Kurama pointed at Hiei pointedly. "Don't you see? She needs help."

"Why can't he go?"

"Because I'm going with him to train." Kurama responded. "We're going to the show later, and someone needs to go with Daisy and Hiei wants to train."

Asagi sighed, "Please?"

"That's my line." Kurama kissed her softly. "It's just running. It's not like you have to talk."

Asagi sighed, "Well I'm stealing your line."

"Well I don't care. Go with her." He settled his hands on her waist, smiling at her. "Don't make me order you as your boss."

"You have no power here as my boss."

"Oh I don't?" Kurama asked her curiously, smirking.

"You don't."

"Well then, how about I just ask nicely? Will you please go with her?"

"What if I say no?"

"Then it will be on your head when she's kidnapped and experimented on by the humans."

Asagi tipped her head, like she was considering it.

"Just go with her."

"No?"

"Yes," He kissed her again.

"No?" She tried again.

"Yes." He said, more assured.

"No." She chuckled.

"Asagi, it's really not that big of a deal. Think about it. You go running with her, and then you come home and settle in for whatever you want to do."

"Fine, fine." She stepped away from him before he could get another kiss.

"Thank you. You won't be disappointed." Kurama smiled. "Come on, you'd better get your shoes on."

"I'm almost ready!" Daisy called out.

Asagi sighed, "You might be disappointed later tonight when I'm too tired to do anything." She teased.

"No, I doubt she'll wear you out."

"Maybe I'll wear myself out."

"I doubt it."

"You'll see."

Daisy came over to Hiei and held up her shoe to Hiei. "Is this right?"

"Mostly," he tugged on a string a bit.

Daisy sighed and watched him fix it. "This sucks, you know that right?"

Hiei chuckled and the two boys wished them good luck as they set off together. Daisy took the lead heading down the sidewalk like Hiei had taught her. He thought that she would do better getting home if she had an easier layout, and for the most part, Daisy liked running among the human's better than running in the forest. It felt more natural to her to be around other people.

She continued to run without care until Asagi yanked her to a stop before she slipped out into the road when it wasn't their turn. Daisy sighed, frustrated, and turned down the corner to run that way instead. She kept an eye on the signals now as she ran through the streets at a jog, either going straight or turning depending on how the lights were when she came to an intersection.

Daisy had to pause when she came across a street that dead-ended in a park. She made the loop around the park and headed back out, but she was getting tired and the fork was unfamiliar, so she had to figure out which way to go. She ran in place looking back and forth, trying to determine which way to go.

Asagi led the way by running past her. She didn't slow down for her either, just glanced back and waved.

Daisy followed after her, but she was a little slower than Asagi as time went on, and soon found herself breathing hard and really having to push to move forward.

Eventually Asagi slowed down to a jog, she'd ran at full speed a good portion of the way.

When Daisy caught up, she slowed down as well, breathing heavily as she got close.

Asagi ran quick enough to stay ahead of her, leading her back home. Daisy relaxed when she finally spotted Kurama's house. "Thank you Asagi," Daisy bowed to her when they reached the door.

"Uh huh." Asagi opened the door and stepped in.

Daisy followed her inside and started trying to untie her shoes.

Asagi left her to her own devices and headed for the bathroom.

Daisy finally got her shoes off and looked around, but didn't see anyone in the house. She sighed and sat on the couch staring over at the hallway.

Asagi was out quickly, dressed, and came over to her chair, collapsing into it.

"Are you and Kurama going to have children?" Daisy asked curiously.

"I don't know."

"Do you want children?"

"I don't know."

"You're not sure? How come?"

"Because I'm not."

"Well what are the pros and cons? I'm sort of having the same dilemma myself. I'm not sure if I want children with Hiei or not."

Asagi just stared at her.

"Well, I mean, the main thing is Hiei not sure if he wants children. I mean, I think I might be able to talk him into it if I want them, but I'm not sure. You know?"

"Just talk to him."

"So what about you and Kurama?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Daisy sighed, "I see."

Asagi nodded.

"So then, what do you want to talk about?"

She shrugged.

"I had a kid almost a few times," Daisy sighed. "Ended up miscarrying three times."

"Mmhhhmm."

"You knew?"

"No."

"Then why did you say Mhmm?"

"Just agreeing," she shrugged.

"With what? You weren't listening, were you?"

"I was."

"Oh." Daisy sighed. "I never really wanted kids in the blocks because they were just put to work. It was hard to imagine that happening to me, to repopulate his place, but I wasn't sure how much conviction I could have against the hunger." Daisy sighed. "You don't want to hear about this. What's your favorite hobby?"

"Reading? Drawing." She nodded.

"Oh that's wonderful. What is your favorite thing to draw?"

"Cheetahs."

"Why? Do you like exploring their spots?"

"I lived in a cheetah village. I like their patterns."

"Oh, you lived in one of their villages? How did that come about?"

"I stumbled upon it."

"Really? I thought that they were rather rare."

"They are, but they tend to stay in one area very densely, so five villages can be in general area."

"Oh, that must be why they are so rare, they're clustered."

"Yes."

"You're, um, your husband was a cheetah, wasn't he?"

"Yes."

"How did you two fall in love?"

"He was curious, he kept coming to find me and bring me back to the village. We eventually just kind of fell in love."

"Just kind of?" Daisy giggled.

"Mm."

"I won't ask you how you split. What's your favorite memory of him?"

"Oh, probably when he was really shy about showing me the traditional wedding dress and kept trying to hide it until I finally found it, tried it on, and showed him. He nearly fainted." She chuckled.

Daisy laughed, "What did it look like?"

"Well, most cheetah women are very, very thin and lean, I, am a bit fuller. My boobs were kind of spilling out of it. It's made of this shiny gold slightly see through material, on me? Mostly see through. It's a top and a sort of skirt, short skirt to emphasize the muscles of the leg."

Daisy chuckled. "You mean, they basically wore nothing," Daisy chuckled.

"Basically, it was to show off their spots."

"Did he love seeing you in it?"

"He was a little, shocked. I guess you'd say loved but he wanted me out of it more than in it."

"For the aftermath of a marriage or because it didn't look good on you though? I mean, that's a big difference."

"Well," Asagi shrugged, "Didn't go well with my hair." She picked up a strand of her dark red hair.

"You and Kurama look cute with your hair together."

She chuckled, "Thank you."

"How did you two actually start a relationship?"

"We hung out together."

"So you weren't hanging out beforehand?"

"We just hung out when we could."

"And then suddenly?" She snapped her fingers.

She nodded.

"What's your favorite memory with Kurama?"

"At the Christmas party when he smiled at me after I fell flat on my ass."

"Oh come on, you're going to have to explain that one."

"I got tipsy and fell, and he was nearby because I was so tipsy. I started laughing and he kind of just gave me that, loving, caring smile and helped me up."

"He seems really closed off to me."

"Not if you know him."

"Unfortunately I'm not sure I ever will. He doesn't really trust me I don't think. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to change that."

"In time."

"If we have it," Daisy sighed.

She shrugged.

"I'm sorry for being such a downer, Asagi. I'm sure you have other things you'd like to do."

"Mmm."

"So, I can just, sit here," she patted her lap and looked around the room, trying to figure out what she really would do. She rubbed her legs.

"You can," Asagi agreed.

"And you can go about whatever it is you want to do."

Asagi got up and retrieved a sketchbook. She sat back down with another book in tow and set it beside her, sketching.

Daisy sat back and did her best to keep her mouth shut. After several tempting moments, she started meditating to hold her tongue. Asagi didn't look up at her.

It was a while later when Daisy couldn't help herself. She peeked her eye open and leaned up enough to see what Asagi was drawing. "Who's that?"

"No one in particular."

"Oh, I thought since you lived in one of their villages you might have been, drawing someone you recognized."

"No, just a cheetah."

"If you had to name your cheetah, what would their name be?"

"Oh, Pekee?"

"Can I see some of your other drawings?"

She nodded and handed her the book.

Daisy slowly and carefully flipped through the images, smiling softly as she got closer to the front. There was a lot of the same type of look on the face of one cheetah. He had stripes rather than spots going down his back. She stared at one very detailed picture that had been covered with tracing paper to preserve it.

Asagi watched her, quiet.

Daisy wanted to touch the image, to reach out and hold it. The cheetah looked incredibly sad in this one, and she wasn't even sure how she could tell, it was just the way it made her feel. Daisy wiped at her eyes and handed the book back. "It's very good, your art."

"Thank you." She took it and rearranged the tracing paper back onto the page.

"Are you, um, doing any bigger pieces?"

"I have plans for a few." She flipped a few pages and offered Daisy the book.

Daisy took it and looked over sketches of large groups of cheetahs posed together, playing, fighting, and relaxing. She had x's and check marks next to some of them.

"What do the marks stand for?"

"Some of them I want to re-pose or redo their markings," she pointed at some of the x's, "The check marks are ones I'm happy with at the moment."

"Are you going to do this on a large sheet of paper or paint it or something?"

"On a very large piece of paper."

"Ah."

"It'll take a really long time." She sighed.

"But that'll give you something to do for a while. Do you have somewhere to set it up and keep it untouched until you can work on it?"

"Yeah," She nodded, "A spare room."

"This place is full of those, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"So who are they?" Daisy asked handing the book back to her so she could explain.

"Some villagers, the ones who liked me."

"Did you have a cheetah form that you assumed?"

"I can look like one, but I am no cheetah."

"How does that work?"

"It's an illusion."

"Well, yes, but like, do you look like your own individual with your own spots or do you assume the look of someone you've seen?"

"I'm my own individual with my own spots. I create my own pattern from the patterns I've seen."

"Oh!"

She nodded.

"Did you come into the village and pretend to be a cheetah or did you just assume that form for convenience?"

"No, I just did it to make the cheetahs feel more comfortable about my presence."

"Have you ever shown it to Kurama?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why would I show him?"

"Because it was a big part of your life for a long time."

"It's not important anymore."

Daisy frowned, apparently that was touchy. She watched as Asagi closed off to her again, she could see it in the twitching of the muscles around her eyes, and the quipped way she spoke. "I'm sorry. Apparently that's another touchy subject, huh."

"Yes."

"Haven't you ever wanted those to go away?"

"Huh?"

"All of your, touchy subjects. I mean, haven't you ever wanted to talk about your past freely?"

"Yeah, but I'm content with them the way they are right now."

Daisy frowned. "Well, if only everyone were satisfied with being content."

She nodded.

"If everyone could just be content with their lives then we'd be fine being in prison camps working for nothing but a meal every other day, or every week or so."

Asagi waited.

"Man, wouldn't that be easy? Just, don't worry about escape because, why bother?" Daisy chuckled.

Asagi flipped through her book and found the sketch she was working on.

Daisy sighed, she was never going to convince Asagi she needed help. The woman just didn't want it. Daisy stood and went over to her shoes, pulling them on. She exited out the back door and sat on the patio there on the bench, staring up at the trees.

She heard Hiei and Kurama come home before she felt them. There was a squeal of delight and loud banging through the house, followed by Kurama's calm, but loud voice. "Take off your shoes!"

Hiei was out on the patio with her in seconds, grumbling.

"How did you end up with children?" Daisy asked curiously. She recognized the noise of them anywhere.

"They're not mine. The Fox is babysitting them."

Daisy smiled warmly and popped up. "For how long?" she headed for the back door.

"Mm, a while, why? Hey, don't I get a kiss?"

Daisy kissed him quickly. "Of course you do but I want to go meet the hellions!"

"Go on then."

Daisy came into the kitchen and saw both of the kids immediately. They screamed and ran waving their arms about wildly when they spotted her.

She followed them out into the living room where they were hiding behind Asagi.

By the look on her face, Asagi was having none of it. She got up to retreat, but each kid grabbed a hand and hid behind her legs.

One of them was little, only about a foot tall, and the other looked older, but just as scared.

"Kids, this is Hiei's girlfriend, her name is Daisy." Kurama introduced. "Daisy, these are Yuki, and Raiko." He pointed first to the older, than the younger child.

Daisy crouched down and smiled. "Well you two are absolutely adorable. Are you siblings?"

"How about you play with Aunt Daisy?" Asagi suggested, tugging for her hands.

"No!" The younger cried, "We want Aunty Asagi!"

"But Aunt Daisy is very nice," She chuckled, but it was forced.

"Who are your mommy and daddy?" Daisy asked them curiously.

The two of them looked between one another at the question, then Yuki answered, "Daddy is Daddy Yusuke, and Mommy is Mommy Keiko."

"Oh!" Daisy's eyes widened and nodded sagely, "Those are very fine parents to have. I met them you know? I met them last weekend."

Raiko tugged on Asagi's hand and peered up at her, "I gotta go."

"Gotta go?" Asagi glanced down at him.

"Come on then Raiko, I'll take you to the bathroom." Kurama scooped the child up and left the room. That just made Yuki cling tighter, getting a grip on Asagi's leg.

"It's fine," Asagi tried to get the child off her leg.

She just clung tighter.

"Yuki, please."

"When's Raiko coming back?" Yuki asked quietly.

"Soon."

Daisy stood up and sat down on the couch, watching the window.

"Where's Uncle Hiei?"

"Outside."

"Oh! I want to go outside!" She jumped about still holding onto Asagi's hand, but with much less care about Daisy.

"Then go outside, Hiei's out there."

"Will you take me outside? I don't want Uncle Kurama to get mad at me." She looked at the carpet and kicked her toe.

Asagi sighed heavily and led her away a little too quickly.

Daisy stayed in the living room giving the children time to get adjusted to Kurama's and feel comfortable around her before trying to engage with them. Apparently these two bred shyness off one another.

She heard Hiei bark something and Asagi come back in quickly. She headed straight for the stairs, but paused for a moment and came back over, closing her sketchbook and reference book, putting them up high, away from reach of the kids.

"It won't be that bad," Daisy tried to comfort her. "They're adorable, aren't they?"

"Uh huh." She headed for the stairs.

By the time the children were put to bed, Daisy was in their good graces. The four adults all settled downstairs when she finally put them down for the night, a cup of alcohol for each of them after chasing behind the kids all day.

Daisy sighed when she sipped her's. "It always seems like having kids around makes you thankful for all the things you can do for yourself."

Kurama chuckled. "Like going to the bathroom alone."

Hiei chuckled too, "Those two are ridiculous."

"Yeah, but they really enjoyed playing with the cookie dough."

"And they made a mess." Hiei sighed.

Daisy laughed again, "That's children Hiei. They do that. Oh god, you should have seen the mischief children got up to in Vrishnu's camps." She shook her head, but her smile fell.

"Hn."

"They could be so silly sometimes. Mostly it was with the campfire ash."

Hiei chuckled.

Daisy smiled sadly, remembering some of the children that didn't make it through the long starve after the term ended. Even those who did always brought misfortune. They usually had bad names because of that. They mean that bedmates were likely to be split up, separated into new blocks. She couldn't remember how many times she heard lovers crying out for one another right after a baby started crying. Vrishnu did not keep families together.

Asagi hadn't made a sound yet.

Daisy watched her after coming out of her own thoughts, trying to determine what was going on. Kurama was watching her discreetly too.

Hiei sighed and took a sip, "Are they working on making more? Is that why they're really here Fox?"

"If they're having sex it's not to make more children. They said 'they need to get used to being around other people' and also 'if I don't get a break I'll kill them.' I'll let you guess who said what."

Hiei snickered.

"It'll just be a few days. I used to take Yuki when she was a baby while Yusuke was away when Keiko's parents couldn't take her."

Hiei nodded, "They're crazy children."

"I'm sorry I didn't check with you first, Asagi, but it was sort of tossed on me. I wasn't aware it was going to happen."

"Uh huh." Was all they got.

"If it's a real problem I can call up Mrs. Yukimura and ask them if they can take the kids."

Asagi didn't respond to that.

Kurama sighed and got up, holding out his hand to her, "Come here?"

"Why?"

"I think you need something."

"Mmm, foxy wants to go practice making babies."

"I don't think he's going to get anything for awhile at this rate." Hiei grunted.

Daisy laughed.

"I'm not joking." Hiei commented.

"Oh," Daisy looked the two of them over, Kurama was still waiting for her to take his hand. "Well then. It's a good thing he's old as fuck. He is used to not getting any."

"I don't," Hiei sighed and took a sip, shaking his head.

"You don't?"

"Nevermind."

"She's wrong, come on Asagi," Kurama offered.

"What do you want Kurama?"

Kurama sighed heavily and dropped his hand. "If I tell you, you're going to freak out and overreact because there's no way to put it that isn't a trigger in couples."

"Spit it out Fox."

He sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair. "We need to talk, in private."

Asagi sighed, "Right now?"

Kurama nodded. "Unless you want to feel like this for the next two days, now."

Asagi groaned and downed her drink, getting up, but she brushed past him.

Kurama followed her out into the kitchen.

Hiei shifted, "This is going to take awhile."

"Is it? Hiei, are you uncomfortable around the children?"

"No." He shook his head.

Daisy smiled, "Are you okay around babies?"

"They're weird." He shrugged.

"I want kids."

"You see why I'd be hesitant to do that, right?"

She nodded. "But I want you to know that. After today, I realized how much I miss having kids in my life. I think it would be wonderful to have one, or a few, in the future."

"How soon do you want them?"

She shrugged. "Oh, it doesn't have to be soon. I think we have to work through your worries before we decide to have them at all. I'm not like," she frowned. "It's not a deal breaker if you refuse to have them. I can adopt."

"I wanted to know mostly because, I am fully functioning, but I have no idea what being part koorime has done to my reproductive-readiness."

"Can you ejaculate at all times?"

"I think so."

"You, just think so? You haven't tried?" That flabbergasted her. That couldn't actually be what he meant by that.

"You think I have time to do that?"

Daisy laughed. "Well have you in the past?"

"Jerked off? Yes."

"And did you actually get wet stuff coming out?" She dumbed it down for him.

"Yes."

"Then chances are you're firing hot. I mean, you'd have to give someone a sample to look at under a microscope to see if they're alive and well, but." she shrugged.

Hiei chuckled, "It was hot too." He frowned and glanced at her, "I have to watch my temperature."

"Mmm, yeah, please don't boil my insides."

"I'll try not to." He chuckled, "Boiling baths are great." He laughed.

"Are you still so unsure about it after telling Yukina what you are?"

"Unsure about, what exactly?"

"Having kids."

"I'm more worried about them getting used as tear mines and me getting captured and forced into it."

Daisy sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I can't say it won't happen or can't happen, but, Hiei, honestly? You've dealt with worse things in your life than that."

"I know."

"You can stay worried about it all your life and never know the joy of having a mini-me, or you can jump in feet first and refuse to let possibilities control you."

Hiei grunted, "Wanna go practice?" He teased with a grin.

Daisy snickered. So far, she had batted off his advances saying she didn't want to because she was tired, or sore, but now that she was feeling more comfortable with him, she wasn't really feeling like telling him no. Then again, there were children in the house. She had a ready excuse if she decided to back out, but did she want to? "I don't have any contraceptives. Do you? You see, I'm not exactly like a normal demon, I'm pretty much always fertile."

They both heard a very loud scuffle break out in the kitchen. Daisy stared at it.

Hiei ignored it after a moment, "The Fox has some."

"Some what?"

"Contraceptives. He has condoms, and other stuff." He shrugged.

"Oh! Do you think you could fish them out? I doubt he's going to be done with that any time soon."

Hiei squinted for a moment, "He might've moved them."

Daisy chuckled. "How often do you steal his contraceptives?"

"Every now and then just to fuck with him, and I don't mean fuck him, I mean to mess up his count."

She grinned mischievously. "Have you ever been ass-fucked?"

He huffed, "Maybe."

"I bet you haven't. I bet you're as innocent as a baby."

"Hn." Hiei got up and headed for the stairs.

Daisy followed after him. "We should probably find somewhere with a door that's child-proof."

"I know a room that locks." He lead her into a nicely decorated bedroom and shut the door, locking it.


	9. Chapter 9

Daisy yawned and stretched when she woke up. She rolled over and snuggled up to Hiei's side. They'd had to evacuate the locking room after a round, but Daisy didn't care at this point. She was content. She hadn't slept that good since she was young.

Hiei wrapped an arm around her and nuzzled close, sighing.

"I want to go flying." She kissed his lips softly.

"There's a window over there," He offered.

"Do you want to come follow me?"

"Sure." He sighed.

"I need to stretch my wings." She got out of bed.

"I need to stretch my back." He stretched his arms above his head.

Daisy got back in bed and wrapped her arms around his waist, running a firm hand up his spine.

"That feels good, keep doing that." Hiei leaned against her.

Daisy massaged his back, up to his shoulders and down to his butt, which she squeezed playfully. Hiei chuckled and rubbed her back.

Daisy nipped his ear. "Get up, I want to go flying."

He wrapped his arms around her and rolled sideways onto the bed, "Right now?"

She giggled and smiled up at him. "Uh huh."

He chuckled, "How was it?"

"How was my flight? Horrible. I got stuck in bed the entire time."

"No," He rolled his eyes, "Last night."

"Oh, well it's been a while. Are you going to get bored of me?" She reached up and trailed her fingers through his bangs, up into his hair.

"No," he leaned into her touch.

"Men do that you know," she commented. "They fuck something and then they get bored of it," she did a deep voice-over tone. "Pussy conquered."

"No, I want more." He chuckled.

"Oh do you?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"But there's no mystery left."

"There's plenty of mystery left."

"Yeah? You'll have to convince me of that one."

"We only did it one way, there's a million other ways I have to learn to make you scream." With that, he hopped out of bed.

She sat up and stared at his ass unashamedly. Hiei glanced over his shoulder at her and wiggled his hips for her a little as he walked to find his clothes.

She laughed hard and got up to get dressed too. "Hiei, I need new clothes." She held up a dirty shirt with holes and rips along the bottom hem.

"Mm," he grunted and went through a drawer, tossing a shirt at her, "It might fit you."

She pulled it on, but it only came down to her belly button with her boobs in the way.

"There, that works." Hiei nodded as he pulled on his pants.

"So I'm just going to be a clone of your closet?" She asked as she pulled on her pants and then wrapped herself up in his cloak.

He rolled his eyes, "You can go shopping with Asagi. She can get you all that girly stuff."

"Oh god, don't remind me about Asagi, she's bound to hate me still." Daisy went over to the window and pushed it open.

"Or Shizuru."

"Which one is that?"

"The one who smokes."

"She's scary." Daisy didn't waste time talking, but hopped up onto the balcony as a large brown hawk which glowed with her energy.

"She's a good kind of scary." Hiei followed her.

Daisy launched herself from the room and soared into the sky. She felt Hiei following below her and decided that their conversation was far from over. " _She's the kind of scary that could overthrow Demon World. I'm not sure I want that kind of confidence in the way I dress._ "

" _Or Keiko_."

" _She's the human that bred those two brats staying with Kurama?_ "

" _Yeah. She's sweet. She can help you get new clothes, just tell her functional clothes_."

" _We'll see if I ever see her again._ " Daisy enjoyed the rest of her journey, drifting through the sky and letting the drafts carry her as she stretched her wings. Occasionally she would drop into harder altitudes to challenge herself, having to beat her wings faster and harder just to keep the same speed. She turned about and began to travel back towards home. Without the trees in the way, she could practically see exactly where she needed to go unimpeded, but there were still tall buildings in the way, and tall trees.

When they got back Hiei hopped up onto the balcony and waited, watching her.

Daisy transformed while she was landing, using her powers over the wind to scoop into wings made out of her energy on her arms, helping her descend gradually until landing beside him.

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her, kissing her cheek.

"Well, I'm feeling better."

"Good."

"Now I just want to stay and visit these kids before we go home, is that alright?"

"Yes."

"We can spar too, that should help me get back up to standards." She didn't want him to get bored with her.

"Alright."

"Shall we go find out how bad the damage is from last night?"

"Yep." He opened the door cautiously, glancing around before he stepped out into the hall.

Daisy followed him, pulling his cloak tighter. When they found the lovers, they were in the kitchen. Kurama was preparing breakfast but a stony silence hung in the air. Daisy whistled and looked between the two of them. "It's a death match in here."

"Did we hurt the bed Fox?"

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked without inflection.

"Did I break it?" Hiei chuckled.

Kurama just stared at him. "I told Shiori last night."

"You… told her that?"

Kurama nodded.

"How'd it go?"

"I'm not sure."

"Did she say she loves you?"

"She always says that. I think it's more of a habit than a thought."

"Is she coming over?"

"Probably." Kurama nodded. He plated some food and continued to cook.

Hiei came over to him and touched his arm, "Are you okay Fox?"

"I'm fine Hiei," Kurama smiled down at him with the same fake grin that Daisy couldn't read.

Daisy sat at the table and stared at them, trying to determine if she wanted to know what was behind that smile or not. It might be enough just to know that Hiei knew what was behind it.

"You sure Fox?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

Hiei nodded, "Alright."

"Go sit down. Daisy, can you go wake the kids? They're going to miss breakfast if they don't get up and start brushing their teeth now."

Daisy popped up. "Gladly," she left the room to go rouse the kids and shuffle them into getting ready for the day.

Weeks later Kurama and Asagi waved them off as Daisy and Hiei started their trip to Demon World. Hiei had been getting more and more jumpy and aggressive as their time in Human World progressed, so eventually, Kurama kindly kicked them out. He'd armed Hiei with some general supplies in the event the bug was far away and would take more than a few days to get to. Daisy had seen him slip in a few packets of hot chocolate.

The portal was the easy part, it was just a matter of Hiei locating it. When they got into Demon World, Hiei made them pause outside the portal a ways to track down Mukuro, and after a few minutes, led her off.

Daisy enjoyed running through Demon World. With her powers back, she was able to keep pace with Hiei's slower run, and with her new familiarity with being in trees and open air, Daisy couldn't help but feel refreshed to feel the vibrant energy building around her as they traveled through Demon World. It was wonderful.

It was a few days before Hiei started slowing down even more, leading her in the long tracks of the bug. A small speck of dust was barely visible on the horizon, and Hiei wasn't rushing to get to it.

"Is that it?" Daisy asked as they ran side by side.

"Yeah, it's the dust it's kicking up."

"Do you want to, um, have a celebration of finally spotting it?"

"Oh, and what would that celebration be?" He grinned.

"Mm, letting it gain ground on us and finding a nicely thick patch of woods."

He chuckled, "Lucky for the both of us the Fox gave us a few things. I'm okay with celebrating like that."

"We might want to make some more ground, so we don't fall out of view while celebrating spotting it."

"Yeah, come on." Hiei sped up.

Daisy chased after him as fast as she could, pushing herself to try to out-pace him.

They woke up when they felt a loud rumbling growing in the ground. Hiei pulled her up, and they left at a run as Daisy belted her pants back up and pulled on the hastily-grabbed cloak.

Hiei had them run a ways away before he stopped and turned, "That's the bug."

"Why did it try to run over us?" Daisy asked, out of breath.

"Hn, more like Mukuro wanted my attention. Come on," He scooped her up and sprinted for the bug. He hopped up onto its shell, setting her down on her own feet, and found the stairs leading down inside the bug quickly.

When they entered, a lady was standing there. She had short red hair that was shaved off one side to make room for technology that housed an eye, and crawled all the way down her body in bits and pieces. She wore a purple vest, and puffy pants that hid her legs from view. "Well, well, well, took you long enough."

"Before you think about knocking me through a wall you should know you'd do actual damage to me." Hiei shifted on his feet, "It's been an interesting few months."

"What do you mean I'd actually damage you?" Mukuro shifted her weight.

"I'm weaker than I was when I left. I've lost some muscle."

"Alright, I'm listening." She folded her arms over her chest.

"I was out on that stupid, patrol, or whatever. I got captured and, well, I guess the term would be enslaved. The Fox, Detective, and the oaf got me out after, oh, I don't know, several months. I couldn't effectively train, I had parasites that kept my energy really, really low," He chuckled, "and I was starving. This is Daisy, she helped me when I first was captured by feeding me and helping me in general. I love her."

Mukuro eyed the two of them over critically then turned sharply, "Come with me." She started marching down the halls.

Daisy hopped after her, not sure what she was planning, but knowing better than to question someone as strong as she was, at least, not without influence over them, like love.

Hiei glanced at her, "Just stay close, alright?" He was quick after Mukuro.

They reached a thick, big door that Hiei clearly recognized as he paused in front of it and looked between himself and Daisy.

"Mukuro, this isn't necessary."

"It's not for you, it's for her."

"No." Hiei barked.

"I'm not letting some weakling join us just because you like her, Hiei. She has to prove herself like everyone else."

"You'll kill her!"

"Then she shouldn't have your heart!"

"Hiei, please, it's alright. If this is some way to strengthen me up then I'll do it."

"No! I've done this, I know the types of demons she puts you up against!"

"Everyone does this."

"She hasn't used her energy like that in years! I'm not letting you do this Mukuro!"

Daisy stepped forward towards Mukuro. "I don't have a physical weapon. I'll need one if I'm going to be going into some hell-pit."

Hiei grabbed her by the arm and hauled her back, "You're not doing this."

Daisy yanked her arm free and glared at him. "I am! Now either give me your sword or I'll give you my back and I won't be returning." She held out her hand to him. "Hiei, I'm made of more than you think. I won't be coddled."

Hiei shook his head and grabbed her wrist instead, "No. We won't stay here then." He started walking the opposite direction.

Daisy followed after him silently, shocked. She couldn't understand him sometimes.

"Hiei, you have patrolling to do."

"Not while you kill the woman I love!" He shouted.

"You don't know that she will die!"

"She's not an apparently strong demon! And I love her!"

"I don't give a shit who you love Hiei! I'm not having someone who lives in this station untested!"

"Then find another way to test her!"

"What if I pick lesser levels?" Mukuro offered.

"I'm still not happy."

"Hiei, you either do the patrolling and let me handle your, whatever she is, in my own way or you answer to Enki."

"If you kill her I won't forgive you." Hiei paused, but he still had a tight grip on her.

"It's not my intention to see her dead, Hiei. It's my intention that she faces the challenge and prove her worth."

Hiei glared at the woman, flaring his energy a little, "I still don't like this."

"If you're never challenged in life, you don't improve," Daisy told him. "Just, give me your sword and put your faith in me. I have more tricks up my sleeve than I think you realize."

Hiei sighed heavily and reluctantly let go of her, handing her his sword. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling close.

Daisy took it and wrapped her arms around him too, kissing his cheek. "I'll be fine."

Hiei sighed, "This is going to be a sleepless however long."

"I can handle it with my powers. It'll be good for me to do this Hiei. Just, don't interfere."

"If you say so. I love you." He kissed her on the lips.

She leaned back and stared at him. "I do." she kissed him firmly back. "Now let me get this started so I can get it over with."

"Alright. I love you."

"I love you too." She stepped back and turned to Mukuro.

Mukuro nodded. "Finally." She led Daisy away to the chamber.

Daisy squinted when she saw the sun again. She came out with a heavy limp, having faced off with a rather strong demon at the end, a final test, Mukuro called it, but Daisy knew what it really was, it was an attempt to finally get her up to snuff. She'd done okay, but the battle had been harder than it should have been.

Mukuro led her to a room on the other side of the bug, and they sat down opposite one another. "So," Mukuro offered her a plate of food, which she took and began to eat.

"So?" Daisy asked, clearing her throat.

"How did you really meet Hiei?"

"Just like he said. I was-" she yawned, covering her mouth. "I was in a labor camp, and Hiei was thrown in it. I, um, was something of a welcoming committee for B Block, so I gave him food, a place to sleep, and taught him what he needed to learn."

"How long were you there?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. How long have you been in power?" she chuckled a little, like it was a joke, but it wasn't.

"A long time."

Daisy nodded. "A long time, then."

"How'd you get into the camp?"

"I disobeyed orders from my father."

"Who was your father?"

"The man who ran the camp."

"What order did you disobey?"

"Mm, do we really have to talk about this?" Daisy asked.

"Yes. What order did you disobey?"

"I, uh, I refused to help him run the camp. I started trying to figure out a way to free people, and he decided he didn't want me to do that."

"I see. What was life like before the camp?"

Daisy shrugged, "I lived in a house, probably about as big as this place, had a couple friends, learned about my energy, and my powers. I tried out as a dancer once, that was fun. I got a few jobs as either a companion or an escort. I read a lot."

"Uh huh. How'd you get out of the camp?"

"Hiei escaped when there was a cave-in. I guess Yusuke and Kurama came to save him, but while they fought up top, the roof down below dropped. Kurama pulled him out. After that we were re-sorted, and then," she sighed, trying to figure it out. "He came back."

"And got you out?"

Daisy nodded. "To be honest, it's intimidating the commitment he's shown me. I welcomed him like I welcome everyone. I was nice to him because I like being nice to people. Then, somehow, he wormed his way into my heart, and I just, didn't kick him out of my bed. I couldn't. He asked to stay, and I let him. I still don't really know why I did that."

"Do you love him?"

Daisy nodded. "I do. When I was being groomed to take over the camps, I used to see men like him. They would be so determined to be free, so sure that they were going to get out, and I had to break them from that thought for my father. I had to tell them that they were never going home, that they could never get out." Daisy dropped her head. "I did it too. It's horrifying to think of it now, but I did. One day it was just too much to go down there and see these people who were just, normal people. I grew up with this narcissistic complex that I was better than other demons because I was a spirit hawk." She rolled her eyes. "I was such a stupid girl."

Mukuro nodded.

"Are we done?"

"Maybe. I know Hiei is going to burst through that door any minute now, so I might as well save his shoulder and get it for him."

"I can go find him." Daisy pushed herself up, feeling weak still. She stabilized herself and headed for the door.

"If you need medical attention, we have tanks and Shigure."

"Thank you." Daisy opened the door and stepped out. She closed her eyes and felt around for Hiei until she found his signature. She started in his direction.

Hiei, however, had different plans, and in minutes he was running towards her, "Daisy!"

Daisy pulled him into a hug and lay against his chest. "Mmm, thank god. I missed you."

He squeezed her tight, "I missed you."

"Pick me up?" she asked softly.

Hiei scooped her up and headed down the hall, "Are you injured?"

"Nothing life-threatening."

He walked for awhile and opened a door, stepping in. He shut it with his foot and made his way over to a bed, setting her down.

"Lay with me," Daisy grabbed his wrist when he would have pulled away.

Hiei settled beside her and nuzzled close, wrapping his arms around her tight.

"Talk to me? I miss your voice."

"What is there to say? I miss you."

"Anything, tell me anything." Daisy kissed his face until she found his lips.

"I love you," He kissed her lips, "I love you," he kissed her nose, "I love you," he kissed her cheek. He continued kissing her face, repeating "I love you" with each kiss until he was back at her lips.

She chuckled and nuzzled against him, rolling onto his chest. "Have you gotten taller? I think you've gotten taller."

"I might've." He shrugged.

Daisy tucked her legs around his, and wrapped him in a hug. "I love you Hiei, let me hear your voice, talk to me."

"I don't know what to say." He chuckled, scooting closer.

"Then tell me about everything that's happened since I've been in there."

"Nothing exciting. I've gotten a significant loss of sleep." He chuckled, "The Fox is fine, he finally found a way to propose to Asagi. The Detective is fine."

"Tell me about your days."

"Days? Patrol, patrol, get back here."

"More details."

"Wake up, shower, eat something, make sure you were alive, go patrol. Eat something, patrol some more, come home, make sure you were alive, shower, eat, try to sleep. Repeat."

Daisy sighed and snuggled closer to his chest, curling up against his side after shifting off of him. "What did you eat?"

"Meat, vegetables, soups, hot chocolate."

"How was it?"

"It was alright."

"Tell me a long story."

Hiei sighed and went into detail about one of his patrols.

When Daisy woke up it was because of Hiei moving around. She realized slowly that she was naked now, but she didn't much care. She yawned, and stretched, gazing up at him.

"I was looking for injuries."

She looked down at her legs which had some nasty wounds on them. They were bandaged. "Apparently you were finding them too."

"Yep." He agreed.

"How long was I out?"

"Mm, most of the day."

"Mm, that's why I'm so stiff."

"Yes." He nodded.

She sat up and stretched out her back. "Hiei, I'm sorry I had to do that."

"Hn."

"I did have to do that, if only to prove to myself I can still fight."

"Hn."

"You should be able to understand that."

He grunted.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too." He leaned forward and kissed her.

"Are we alright?"

"Yes."

"Do you really love me?"

"Yes, god yes, I love you."

"Then let's not dick around. I don't think I'm ever going to get over you." Daisy pulled him close. "Let's make this official."

He kissed her, "Alright."

"How do we make this official?" she asked him sheepishly.

"There are a couple of different ways, I think," he chuckled, "Uh, we can do permanent things, or not permanent things."

"I don't want you to die if I die."

"Alright." He nodded, "That eliminates a couple of things."

"And I don't want you to be tied to only me. I want you to be able to date other people if I die."

"Well, that leaves us mostly not permanent options." He chuckled.

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?"

"We could just, I don't know, do a Human World marriage? Or just a basic Demon World one. Either one works."

Daisy nodded, "Alright, so it's settled then?"

He nodded and kissed her, "Yes."

Daisy kissed him back. "That means the only thing that is left is you walking me through how we do this."

"Just depends. I haven't married anyone before so I'm clueless, but the Fox, the Fox has been married."

"So we'll ask him."

"Yep."

Daisy grinned with delight. "This is going to be such an adventure Hiei. I really hope you love me enough to hate me and not want to leave."

"Tch, let's do this adventure together." He took her hand and squeezed it.

\- Authors' Note: This is the end of _Energetic Conundrums_ and _The Isolation Proclamation_! You will see Asagi and Daisy again as AleyKitty and myself tend to reuse our OCs in a lot of stories! They won't be exactly the same, but they do pop back up! Hope you enjoyed the read :D -


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